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

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

May 2025 wages · tax year 2026

You keep

$36,392

after federal, FICA and Wisconsin tax

Tax takes

$7,838

17.7% of the whole

Worth, in national money

$39,090

Wisconsin 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

$44,230

Kept after tax

$36,392

Worth in national money

$39,090

State rank

29

of 49 states

What this pays, and what it is worth

  • Wisconsin sits in the middle of the pack for this job. The median is $44,230, ranking 29 of 49 states with figures. Close enough to the national middle that where you live matters more than the headline suggests.
  • Measured against other jobs in Wisconsin, this one sits low: 398 of 491 occupations with published pay, in the bottom quarter.
  • Wisconsin is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $44,230 the take-home is $36,392; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $39,090 would nationally. The average comes to $45,310, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
  • Wisconsin occupies the middle band for molding, coremaking, and casting machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic: a median of $44,230, ranking 29 of 49. Where nominal pay is close to the national figure, the tax and price adjustments below carry proportionally more weight in determining the real outcome.
  • Molding, coremaking, and casting machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic occupies position 398 of 491 in Wisconsin'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.
  • Post-tax income for molding, coremaking, and casting machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic in Wisconsin, on $44,230, is $36,392 — equivalent to $39,090 once regional price parity is applied. ⚠️ The adjustment uses a statewide index that describes no particular address; within-state price variation, concentrated in housing, routinely exceeds the difference between two states. At $45,310 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.

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

50thpercentile, roughly
Lowest tenth earn under$34,630
Half earn under$44,230
Top tenth earn over$59,530
This salary$44,230

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
+$1,327take-home per year in Texas
Take-home in Wisconsin$36,392
Take-home in Texas$37,719
Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity−$275

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$44,562
$44,562in Texas, for the same life
To match take-home only$42,578
Raise you would need+$332
Prices in Texas97 vs 93

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

Sources and assumptions
  • Half the people doing this work in Wisconsin earn less than $44,230. The published range is $34,630 up to $59,530, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
  • One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Wisconsin's $36,392, worked from $44,230. 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 398 of 491.
  • Two cautions on $39,090, the adjusted value of that $44,230 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Wisconsin. 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 398 of 491 locally.
  • Reported values are medians; for molding, coremaking, and casting machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic in Wisconsin the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $34,630 to $59,530. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
  • The Wisconsin take-home of $36,392, on $44,230 for work ranking 398 of 491 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 398 of 491 in the state.
  • This $39,090 adjusted figure, worked from $44,230, 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 398 of 491 in the state. The occupation ranks 398 of 491 locally.

Questions people ask

How much does pay for this job actually vary?

Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $34,630 at the tenth percentile, $59,530 at the ninetieth.

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 $39,090.

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; Wisconsin then takes its own share, leaving $36,392.

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 ($34,630 to $59,530) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Wisconsin rather than a national figure.

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

Wisconsin'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 $39,090 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 $36,392 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Wisconsin 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.