Molding, Coremaking, and Casting Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic in Oklahoma

Machined metal parts and a CNC machine in a clean manufacturing workshop.

May 2025 wages · tax year 2026

You keep

$37,329

after federal, FICA and Oklahoma tax

Tax takes

$8,351

18.3% of the whole

Worth, in national money

$42,282

Oklahoma costs less than average

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

$45,680

Kept after tax

$37,329

Worth in national money

$42,282

State rank

18

of 49 states

What this pays, and what it is worth

  • Middling, nationally. Oklahoma pays this job around $45,680 at the midpoint, 18 of 49 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
  • Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 323 among 492 occupations Oklahoma publishes pay for.
  • Here is where Oklahoma does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $45,680 you keep $37,329, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $42,282 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $47,120, because the best-paid pull it up.
  • For molding, coremaking, and casting machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic the Oklahoma median is $45,680, ranking 18 of 49 states reporting. Mid-band nominal positions are the ones most frequently reordered by the adjustments, because no large wage premium exists to absorb a state's tax or price level.
  • Position 323 of 492 in Oklahoma places molding, coremaking, and casting machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic in the middle of the state's wage distribution. Because within-state and cross-state rankings measure different things, this figure and the national one above should be read together rather than as a single verdict.
  • After federal, FICA and Oklahoma income tax, retained pay for molding, coremaking, and casting machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic on $45,680 is $37,329. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $42,282 in national-average terms. ⚠️ That figure is purchasing power, not a wage, and nobody is paid it; it is what the take-home buys. The mean of $47,120 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.

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Pay band: Molding, Coremaking, and Casting Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic

The state median for this job

50thpercentile, roughly
Lowest tenth earn under$31,890
Half earn under$45,680
Top tenth earn over$62,480
This salary$45,680

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

Compare with
+$1,555take-home per year in Texas
Take-home in Oklahoma$37,329
Take-home in Texas$38,884
Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity−$2,267

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

Moving to
$0$48,422
$48,422in Texas, for the same life
To match take-home only$43,745
Raise you would need+$2,742
Prices in Texas97 vs 88

State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.

Sources and assumptions
  • Treat $45,680 as a midpoint for Oklahoma, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $31,890 and the ninetieth is $62,480 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
  • In Oklahoma the take-home figure of $37,329, from $45,680, assumes one filer, no dependants, and nothing paid into a pension before tax. Each of those lowers the bill, so treat it as the plain case. City and school-district income taxes are not included either, and in a few states those are real money. It ranks 323 of 492 occupations here.
  • Two cautions on $42,282, the adjusted value of that $45,680 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Oklahoma. 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 323 of 492 locally.
  • The Oklahoma median of $45,680 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $31,890 to $62,480. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
  • Take-home for Oklahoma is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $37,329 from $45,680. Each omitted item reduces taxable income, so the figure is a lower bound on retained pay for this household shape. Municipal and school-district income taxes are excluded, which understates the burden materially in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The occupation ranks 323 of 492 locally.
  • This $42,282 adjusted figure, worked from $45,680, 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 323 of 492 in the state. The occupation ranks 323 of 492 locally.

Questions people ask

Is this the average pay for the job?

No — it is the middle. Half of these workers earn more and half earn less. The average is $47,120, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.

How much does pay for this job actually vary?

Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $31,890 and the top tenth $62,480, so most people doing this work in Oklahoma sit within a fairly tight band.

What does this pay actually buy where I live?

A smaller wage in a cheaper place is not automatically less. Adjusted for local prices, this is worth $42,282.

Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?

Three of them are federal and one is not. After income tax, Social Security, Medicare and Oklahoma's own levy, $37,329 remains.

Why is this job missing from some states?

The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 49 states here, and a missing state means too few reports, not no jobs.

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 Oklahoma is $47,120. 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 ($31,890 to $62,480) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Oklahoma rather than a national figure.

What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?

Oklahoma'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 $42,282 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 $37,329 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Oklahoma 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.