Multiple Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic in North Dakota
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$41,704
after federal, FICA and North Dakota tax
Tax takes
$7,486
15.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$47,085
North Dakota costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in North 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
$49,190
Kept after tax
$41,704
Worth in national money
$47,085
State rank
11
of 45 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. North Dakota pays this job a middle wage of $49,190, ranking 11 of 45 states and sitting about 4.26% above the national middle.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 460 occupations North Dakota reports figures for, this is number 321.
- Here is where North Dakota does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $49,190 you keep $41,704, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $47,085 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $52,580, because the best-paid pull it up.
- North Dakota's median for multiple machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic is $49,190, about 4.26% above the national figure and 11 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 North Dakota's occupational distribution, multiple machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic sits at 321 of 460 — 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.
- After federal, FICA and North Dakota income tax, retained pay for multiple machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic on $49,190 is $41,704. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $47,085 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 $52,580 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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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 | $38,170 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $49,190 |
| Top tenth earn over | $71,140 |
| This salary | $49,190 |
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 North Dakota | $41,704 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $41,704 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$4,168 |
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 | $49,190 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$5,041 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 89 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in North Dakota earn less than $49,190. The published range is $38,170 up to $71,140, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $41,704 take-home in North Dakota comes from $49,190. 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 321 of 460.
- Two cautions on $47,085, the adjusted value of that $49,190 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of North Dakota. 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 321 of 460 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for multiple machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic in North Dakota the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $38,170 to $71,140. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $41,704, from $49,190, assumes a single North 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 321 of 460 locally, and the state ranks 11 of 45 for it.
- This $47,085 adjusted figure, worked from $49,190, 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 321 of 460 in the state. The occupation ranks 321 of 460 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $52,580, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $38,170 and the top tenth $71,140, so most people doing this work in North Dakota sit within a fairly tight band.
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 $47,085.
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 North Dakota's own levy, $41,704 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 North Dakota is $52,580. 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 ($38,170 to $71,140) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to North Dakota rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
North 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 $47,085 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 $41,704 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and North Dakota 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.