Multiple Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic in Kansas
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$38,695
after federal, FICA and Kansas tax
Tax takes
$9,755
20.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$43,011
Kansas costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Kansas — 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
$48,450
Kept after tax
$38,695
Worth in national money
$43,011
State rank
15
of 45 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. Kansas pays this job a middle wage of $48,450, ranking 15 of 45 states and sitting about 2.69% above the national middle.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 488 occupations Kansas reports figures for, this is number 290.
- Kansas is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $48,450 the take-home is $38,695; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $43,011 would nationally. The average lands at $44,830, below the middle of the range.
- Kansas's median for multiple machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic is $48,450, about 2.69% above the national figure and 15 of 45 states reporting. Whether that premium reaches the worker depends on the two adjustments below, which is the part a wage table cannot tell you.
- In Kansas's occupational distribution, multiple machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic sits at 290 of 488 — neither quartile. This local position is what a resident compares against, and it is determined by the state's own labor market rather than by national patterns for this occupation.
- Post-tax income for multiple machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic in Kansas, on $48,450, is $38,695 — equivalent to $43,011 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 $44,830 the mean undershoots the median, an inversion of the usual skew.
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Pay band: Multiple Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $32,740 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $48,450 |
| Top tenth earn over | $55,390 |
| This salary | $48,450 |
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 Kansas | $38,695 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $41,110 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$706 |
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 | $45,444 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$854 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Kansas earn less than $48,450. The published range is $32,740 up to $55,390, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $38,695 take-home in Kansas comes from $48,450. 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 290 of 488.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $43,011 uses one figure for the whole of Kansas. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 488 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 290.
- Reported values are medians; for multiple machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic in Kansas the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $32,740 to $55,390. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $38,695, from $48,450, assumes a single Kansas 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 290 of 488 locally, and the state ranks 15 of 45 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $43,011, worked from $48,450, 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 Kansas address, on work sitting at 290 of 488 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 $44,830 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $32,740 at the bottom tenth to $55,390 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in Kansas sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $43,011 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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 Kansas adds its own income tax on top — which is why $38,695 of this wage survives to your account.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 45 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 Kansas is $44,830. 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 ($32,740 to $55,390) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Kansas rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Kansas'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 $43,011 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 $38,695 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Kansas 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 45 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.