Molding, Coremaking, and Casting Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic in South Dakota
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$34,923
after federal, FICA and South Dakota tax
Tax takes
$5,827
14.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$39,642
South Dakota costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in South Dakota — 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
$40,750
Kept after tax
$34,923
Worth in national money
$39,642
State rank
41
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- South Dakota is among the lower-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $40,750, ranking 41 of 49 states — about 8.12% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
- Measured against other jobs in South Dakota, this one sits low: 369 of 457 occupations with published pay, in the bottom quarter.
- Here is where South Dakota does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $40,750 you keep $34,923, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $39,642 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $42,670, because the best-paid pull it up.
- South Dakota ranks 41 of 49 for molding, coremaking, and casting machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic, with a median of $40,750 — about 8.12% below the national figure. A nominal shortfall is not by itself a real one: lower-paying states frequently carry lower tax and lower price levels, and the adjusted figures below are where that is settled rather than assumed.
- Molding, coremaking, and casting machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic occupies position 369 of 457 in South Dakota's occupational wage distribution, in the bottom quartile. National ranking and local ranking answer different questions and frequently disagree; this is the one a resident experiences.
- After federal, FICA and South Dakota income tax, retained pay for molding, coremaking, and casting machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic on $40,750 is $34,923. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $39,642 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 $42,670 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
| Lowest tenth earn under | $34,420 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $40,750 |
| Top tenth earn over | $54,850 |
| This salary | $40,750 |
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 South Dakota | $34,923 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $34,923 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$3,704 |
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 | $40,750 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$4,480 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 88 |
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 South Dakota earn under $40,750 and half over. The published range runs $34,420 at the tenth percentile to $54,850 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $34,923 take-home in South Dakota comes from $40,750. 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 369 of 457.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $39,642 uses one figure for the whole of South Dakota. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 457 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 369.
- Figures are distribution medians for molding, coremaking, and casting machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic in South Dakota, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $34,420 to $54,850; 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 $34,923, from $40,750, assumes a single South Dakota 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 369 of 457 locally, and the state ranks 41 of 49 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $39,642, worked from $40,750, 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 South Dakota address, on work sitting at 369 of 457 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
Half earn more than this and half earn less. The average sits at $42,670 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $34,420 at the tenth percentile, $54,850 at the ninetieth.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. South Dakota is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $39,642 in national terms.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
No. $34,923 survives, because South Dakota levies no wage income tax. The federal share does not change with the state you work in.
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 South Dakota is $42,670. 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 ($34,420 to $54,850) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to South Dakota rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
South Dakota'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 $39,642 in national-average terms. The adjustment uses an all-items index and does not isolate housing.
Why is the take-home ratio comparatively high in this state?
South Dakota levies no personal income tax on wages, so take-home of $34,923 reflects the federal layer and FICA alone. Federal income tax and FICA are unchanged; states without a wage income tax generally recover revenue through consumption and property bases instead.
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.