Multiple Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic in New Jersey
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$34,698
after federal, FICA and New Jersey tax
Tax takes
$6,692
16.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$31,867
New Jersey costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in New Jersey — 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
$41,390
Kept after tax
$34,698
Worth in national money
$31,867
State rank
39
of 45 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is on the low side in New Jersey. The middle earner gets $41,390. That is 39 of 45 states, and about 12.27% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Against 490 occupations New Jersey publishes, this job lands at 423. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Costs eat into it here. Of $41,390, tax leaves $34,698 — and because New Jersey is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $31,867 would nationally. Averages run higher here, $45,040, since top earners drag the number up.
- For multiple machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic, New Jersey sits in the lower band at $41,390, ranking 39 of 45 and trailing the national median by about 12.27%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Within New Jersey, this work ranks 423 of 490 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.
- After tax, $34,698 remains from the New Jersey median of $41,390 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $31,867 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $45,040 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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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 | $35,090 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $41,390 |
| Top tenth earn over | $60,660 |
| This salary | $41,390 |
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 New Jersey | $34,698 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $35,437 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$4,600 |
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 | $40,470 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$5,563 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 109 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in New Jersey earn less than $41,390. The published range is $35,090 up to $60,660, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- In New Jersey the take-home figure of $34,698, from $41,390, 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 423 of 490 occupations here.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $31,867 uses one figure for the whole of New Jersey. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 490 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 423.
- Reported values are medians; for multiple machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic in New Jersey the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $35,090 to $60,660. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Take-home for New Jersey is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $34,698 from $41,390. 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 423 of 490 locally.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $31,867, worked from $41,390, 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 New Jersey address, on work sitting at 423 of 490 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $45,040, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $35,090 at the bottom tenth to $60,660 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
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 $31,867 of national purchasing power.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Three of them are federal and one is not. After income tax, Social Security, Medicare and New Jersey's own levy, $34,698 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 45 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 New Jersey is $45,040. 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 ($35,090 to $60,660) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to New Jersey rather than a national figure.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
New Jersey's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $31,867 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 $34,698 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and New Jersey 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.