Molding, Coremaking, and Casting Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic in Mississippi
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$32,606
after federal, FICA and Mississippi tax
Tax takes
$7,124
17.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$37,353
Mississippi costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Mississippi — roughly, since only five points along the band are published.
One filer, standard deduction, no dependants and nothing paid in before tax — the same household the rest of this page uses, so the comparison holds. City and school-district income taxes are not included.
Median here
$39,730
Kept after tax
$32,606
Worth in national money
$37,353
State rank
43
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is on the low side in Mississippi. The middle earner gets $39,730. That is 43 of 49 states, and about 10.42% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 486 occupations Mississippi reports figures for, this is number 328.
- Mississippi is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $39,730 the take-home is $32,606; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $37,353 would nationally. The average comes to $42,930, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For molding, coremaking, and casting machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic, Mississippi sits in the lower band at $39,730, ranking 43 of 49 and trailing the national median by about 10.42%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- In Mississippi's occupational distribution, molding, coremaking, and casting machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic sits at 328 of 486 — neither quartile. This local position is what a resident compares against, and it is determined by the state's own labor market rather than by national patterns for this occupation.
- Post-tax income for molding, coremaking, and casting machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic in Mississippi, on $39,730, is $32,606 — equivalent to $37,353 once regional price parity is applied. ⚠️ The adjustment uses a statewide index that describes no particular address; within-state price variation, concentrated in housing, routinely exceeds the difference between two states. At $42,930 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
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Pay band: Molding, Coremaking, and Casting Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $31,250 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $39,730 |
| Top tenth earn over | $57,350 |
| This salary | $39,730 |
Positions between the published tenth, quarter, half, three-quarter and ninetieth points are estimated by straight line.
The same pay, somewhere else
The state median for this job
| Take-home in Mississippi | $32,606 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $34,103 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,258 |
The raise and the real gain point in opposite directions here.
State income tax and state price levels only. No city income tax, and no housing market.
What you would need there
The state median for this job
| To match take-home only | $37,867 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,731 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 87 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Mississippi earn less than $39,730. The published range is $31,250 up to $57,350, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Mississippi's $32,606, worked from $39,730. That is on purpose. It lets states be compared with each other, not with each other's family circumstances. Local city taxes are left out. Locally this work ranks 328 of 486.
- Two cautions on $37,353, the adjusted value of that $39,730 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Mississippi. No actual address matches that. The wage figures and price figures are also from different years. Each is published on its own timetable. This work sits at 328 of 486 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for molding, coremaking, and casting machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic in Mississippi the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $31,250 to $57,350. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The Mississippi take-home of $32,606, on $39,730 for work ranking 328 of 486 locally, models the simplest household deliberately: holding it constant is what makes the interstate comparison meaningful. It also means the absolute figure overstates liability for most real filers, and municipal income taxes are outside the model entirely. The occupation ranks 328 of 486 in the state.
- This $37,353 adjusted figure, worked from $39,730, rests on a state-level price parity averaging over within-state dispersion larger than much of the between-state dispersion. Wage and price vintages differ by publication schedule. The result is directionally sound and not address-specific, for work at 328 of 486 in the state. The occupation ranks 328 of 486 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $42,930, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $31,250 and the top tenth $57,350, so most people doing this work in Mississippi sit within a fairly tight band.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Mississippi is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $37,353 in national terms.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Four deductions, stacked. The federal layer and the two payroll taxes apply wherever you work; Mississippi then takes its own share, leaving $32,606.
Why is this job missing from some states?
Because the survey suppresses a figure when too few employers report it. This occupation has published pay in 49 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
How does the published median differ from the mean for this occupation?
The median is the midpoint of the distribution; the mean for this occupation in Mississippi is $42,930. Wage distributions are right-skewed, so the mean exceeds the median wherever a minority earn substantially more. BLS publishes both because substituting one for the other misstates a typical worker's pay.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($31,250 to $57,350) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Mississippi rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Mississippi's regional price parity is at or below the national average, so nominal wages understate purchasing power. Take-home deflated by the state price level is $37,353 in national-average terms. The adjustment uses an all-items index and does not isolate housing.
What accounts for the gap between gross wage and take-home here?
Take-home of $32,606 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Mississippi income tax for a single filer with no adjustments. The state layer is levied in addition to the federal one; only its rate and base differ between states.
Why does this occupation lack published estimates in every state?
BLS suppresses estimates failing disclosure or reliability criteria. This occupation has published state-level estimates in 49 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.