Molding, Coremaking, and Casting Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic in New Jersey
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$33,599
after federal, FICA and New Jersey tax
Tax takes
$6,351
15.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$30,858
New Jersey costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in New Jersey — 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
$39,950
Kept after tax
$33,599
Worth in national money
$30,858
State rank
42
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. New Jersey pays this job a middle wage of $39,950, 42 of 49 states and about 9.92% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Within New Jersey this is lower-paid work. Of 490 occupations the state publishes figures for, this job ranks 434. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- The wage here flatters the reality. From $39,950 the take-home is $33,599. But New Jersey costs more than the national average, so that money behaves more like $30,858 would elsewhere. Worth knowing before comparing offers across states. The average is higher, $43,470, because the best-paid pull it up.
- New Jersey's $39,950 median for molding, coremaking, and casting machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic places it 42 of 49 states, about 9.92% below national. Because both the tax and price adjustments tend to favor lower-nominal states, this ranking is the least stable of the three reported here.
- Against every occupation New Jersey reports, molding, coremaking, and casting machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic ranks 434 of 490, in the lowest quartile of the state's distribution. That position is set by the local labor market and is independent of how the state compares nationally for this work.
- Retained pay after federal, FICA and New Jersey income tax is $33,599 for molding, coremaking, and casting machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic, from $39,950. The state's price level exceeds the national average, so the price-adjusted equivalent is $30,858. ⚠️ This is purchasing power and not a wage; cross-state offer comparisons that stop at the nominal figure systematically overvalue high-cost states. The mean of $43,470 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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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 | $32,220 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $39,950 |
| Top tenth earn over | $60,800 |
| This salary | $39,950 |
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 New Jersey | $33,599 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $34,280 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$4,418 |
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 | $39,103 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$5,344 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 109 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- A median is the middle, not an offer. Half of molding, coremaking, and casting machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic in New Jersey earn under $39,950 and half over. The published range runs $32,220 at the tenth percentile to $60,800 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $33,599 take-home in New Jersey comes from $39,950. It is the no-frills case: single filer, standard deduction, nothing set aside before tax. Real circumstances almost always reduce the tax. City and school-district taxes are not counted at all. Locally the work ranks 434 of 490.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $30,858 uses one figure for the whole of New Jersey. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 490 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 434.
- Figures are distribution medians for molding, coremaking, and casting machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic in New Jersey, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $32,220 to $60,800; within-state dispersion of that width routinely exceeds the dispersion between states, so tenure, employer and metropolitan area predict an individual's pay better than geography does.
- Retained pay of $33,599, from $39,950, assumes a single New Jersey filer with the standard deduction and no elective deferrals. Pre-tax retirement or HSA contributions, dependants and itemized deductions all reduce it further; local income taxes, excluded here, would increase it in the states that levy them. This occupation ranks 434 of 490 locally, and the state ranks 42 of 49 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $30,858, worked from $39,950, deflates by a statewide parity that conceals substantial intra-state variation, concentrated in housing — so it supports comparison between states rather than the pricing of a move to a particular New Jersey address, on work sitting at 434 of 490 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $43,470, 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 $32,220 and the top tenth $60,800, so most people doing this work in New Jersey sit within a fairly tight band.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
The number and the value are different things. New Jersey costs more than the national average, so this take-home stretches like $30,858 rather than its face figure.
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; New Jersey then takes its own share, leaving $33,599.
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 New Jersey is $43,470. 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 ($32,220 to $60,800) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to New Jersey rather than a national figure.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
New Jersey's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $30,858 in national-average terms. ⚠️ RPPs are an all-items index; housing parities vary far more widely than the headline figure.
What accounts for the gap between gross wage and take-home here?
Take-home of $33,599 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and New Jersey 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.