Molding, Coremaking, and Casting Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic in Pennsylvania
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$38,316
after federal, FICA and Pennsylvania tax
Tax takes
$8,444
18.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$39,299
Pennsylvania costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Pennsylvania — 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
$46,760
Kept after tax
$38,316
Worth in national money
$39,299
State rank
14
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. Pennsylvania pays this job a middle wage of $46,760, ranking 14 of 49 states and sitting about 5.43% above the national middle.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 357 among 492 occupations Pennsylvania publishes pay for.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $46,760, tax leaves $38,316, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $39,299 in comparable terms. Average and middle land in the same place, $46,760.
- Pennsylvania's median for molding, coremaking, and casting machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic is $46,760, about 5.43% above the national figure and 14 of 49 states reporting. Whether that premium reaches the worker depends on the two adjustments below, which is the part a wage table cannot tell you.
- Position 357 of 492 in Pennsylvania 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.
- Because Pennsylvania sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for molding, coremaking, and casting machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic — median $46,760 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $38,316 retained, $39,299 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. The mean equals the median at $46,760 — no skew either way in the published band.
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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 | $33,810 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $46,760 |
| Top tenth earn over | $61,370 |
| This salary | $46,760 |
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 Pennsylvania | $38,316 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $39,752 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$1,609 |
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 | $44,973 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$1,946 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 98 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $46,760 as a midpoint for Pennsylvania, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $33,810 and the ninetieth is $61,370 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Pennsylvania's $38,316, worked from $46,760. 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 357 of 492.
- Two cautions on $39,299, the adjusted value of that $46,760 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Pennsylvania. 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 357 of 492 locally.
- The Pennsylvania median of $46,760 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $33,810 to $61,370. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- The Pennsylvania take-home of $38,316, on $46,760 for work ranking 357 of 492 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 357 of 492 in the state.
- This $39,299 adjusted figure, worked from $46,760, 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 357 of 492 in the state. The occupation ranks 357 of 492 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $33,810 at the tenth percentile, $61,370 at the ninetieth.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Pennsylvania is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $39,299 in national terms.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Into four separate taxes, not one. Federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare apply everywhere, and Pennsylvania adds its own income tax on top — which is why $38,316 of this wage survives to your account.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 49 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release one.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($33,810 to $61,370) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Pennsylvania rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Pennsylvania'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 $39,299 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 $38,316 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Pennsylvania 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.