Multiple Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic in Louisiana
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$38,310
after federal, FICA and Louisiana tax
Tax takes
$7,900
17.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$43,364
Louisiana costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Louisiana — 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
$46,210
Kept after tax
$38,310
Worth in national money
$43,364
State rank
25
of 45 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Louisiana sits in the middle of the pack for this job. The median is $46,210, ranking 25 of 45 states with figures. Close enough to the national middle that where you live matters more than the headline suggests.
- Against other work in Louisiana, this sits in the middle: 312 of 484 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Louisiana is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $46,210 the take-home is $38,310; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $43,364 would nationally. The average comes to $46,860, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Louisiana occupies the middle band for multiple machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic: a median of $46,210, ranking 25 of 45. Where nominal pay is close to the national figure, the tax and price adjustments below carry proportionally more weight in determining the real outcome.
- Multiple machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic ranks 312 of 484 occupations in Louisiana by median pay, in the middle bands. Within-state and national positions are separate measurements and a job commonly sits in different quartiles on each.
- Post-tax income for multiple machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic in Louisiana, on $46,210, is $38,310 — equivalent to $43,364 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 $46,860 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
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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 | $34,670 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $46,210 |
| Top tenth earn over | $61,370 |
| This salary | $46,210 |
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 Louisiana | $38,310 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $39,310 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,911 |
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 | $44,965 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$3,521 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 88 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $46,210 as a midpoint for Louisiana, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $34,670 and the ninetieth is $61,370 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In Louisiana the take-home figure of $38,310, from $46,210, 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 312 of 484 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $43,364, the adjusted value of that $46,210 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Louisiana. 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 312 of 484 locally.
- The Louisiana median of $46,210 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $34,670 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.
- Take-home for Louisiana is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $38,310 from $46,210. 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 312 of 484 locally.
- This $43,364 adjusted figure, worked from $46,210, 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 312 of 484 in the state. The occupation ranks 312 of 484 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $34,670 at the bottom tenth to $61,370 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 Louisiana sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $43,364 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 Louisiana adds its own income tax on top — which is why $38,310 of this wage survives to your account.
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 45 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($34,670 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 Louisiana rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Louisiana'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 $43,364 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 $38,310 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Louisiana 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.