Molding, Coremaking, and Casting Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic in Rhode Island
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$34,787
after federal, FICA and Rhode Island tax
Tax takes
$7,233
17.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$34,303
Rhode Island costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Rhode Island — 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
$42,020
Kept after tax
$34,787
Worth in national money
$34,303
State rank
37
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is on the low side in Rhode Island. The middle earner gets $42,020. That is 37 of 49 states, and about 5.25% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Against 452 occupations Rhode Island publishes, this job lands at 383. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $42,020, tax leaves $34,787, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $34,303 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $44,000, since top earners drag the number up.
- For molding, coremaking, and casting machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic, Rhode Island sits in the lower band at $42,020, ranking 37 of 49 and trailing the national median by about 5.25%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Within Rhode Island, this work ranks 383 of 452 occupations by median pay, in the bottom quartile. The within-state position is the more salient one for anyone weighing this job against alternatives available to them locally.
- Because Rhode Island 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 $42,020 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $34,787 retained, $34,303 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $44,000 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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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 | $31,200 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $42,020 |
| Top tenth earn over | $60,760 |
| This salary | $42,020 |
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 Rhode Island | $34,787 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $35,943 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$2,685 |
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 | $40,582 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$3,247 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 101 |
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 Rhode Island earn under $42,020 and half over. The published range runs $31,200 at the tenth percentile to $60,760 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In Rhode Island the take-home figure of $34,787, from $42,020, 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 383 of 452 occupations here.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $34,303 uses one figure for the whole of Rhode Island. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 452 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 383.
- Figures are distribution medians for molding, coremaking, and casting machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic in Rhode Island, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $31,200 to $60,760; 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.
- Take-home for Rhode Island is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $34,787 from $42,020. 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 383 of 452 locally.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $34,303, worked from $42,020, 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 Rhode Island address, on work sitting at 383 of 452 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $44,000, 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 $31,200 and the top tenth $60,760, so most people doing this work in Rhode Island sit within a fairly tight band.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
A larger wage in a dearer place is not automatically more. Adjusted for local prices, this pay behaves like $34,303 of national purchasing power.
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; Rhode Island then takes its own share, leaving $34,787.
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.
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 Rhode Island is $44,000. 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 ($31,200 to $60,760) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Rhode Island rather than a national figure.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
Rhode Island's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $34,303 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 $34,787 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Rhode Island 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.