Multiple Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic in Rhode Island
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$32,260
after federal, FICA and Rhode Island tax
Tax takes
$6,460
16.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$31,810
Rhode Island costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Rhode Island — 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
$38,720
Kept after tax
$32,260
Worth in national money
$31,810
State rank
44
of 45 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is on the low side in Rhode Island. The middle earner gets $38,720. That is 44 of 45 states, and about 17.93% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Against 452 occupations Rhode Island publishes, this job lands at 395. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $38,720, tax leaves $32,260, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $31,810 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $41,750, since top earners drag the number up.
- For multiple machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic, Rhode Island sits in the lower band at $38,720, ranking 44 of 45 and trailing the national median by about 17.93%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Within Rhode Island, this work ranks 395 of 452 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.
- Because Rhode Island sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for multiple machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic — median $38,720 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $32,260 retained, $31,810 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $41,750 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 | $31,680 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $38,720 |
| Top tenth earn over | $57,780 |
| This salary | $38,720 |
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 Rhode Island | $32,260 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $33,292 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$2,449 |
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 | $37,436 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$2,962 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 101 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $38,720 as a midpoint for Rhode Island, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $31,680 and the ninetieth is $57,780 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Rhode Island's $32,260, worked from $38,720. 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 395 of 452.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $31,810 uses one figure for the whole of Rhode Island. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 452 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 395.
- The Rhode Island median of $38,720 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $31,680 to $57,780. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- The Rhode Island take-home of $32,260, on $38,720 for work ranking 395 of 452 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 395 of 452 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $31,810, worked from $38,720, 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 Rhode Island address, on work sitting at 395 of 452 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $41,750, 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 $31,680 and the top tenth $57,780, so most people doing this work in Rhode Island sit within a fairly tight band.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
The number and the value are different things. Rhode Island costs more than the national average, so this take-home stretches like $31,810 rather than its face figure.
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 Rhode Island's own levy, $32,260 remains.
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 Rhode Island is $41,750. 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 ($31,680 to $57,780) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Rhode Island rather than a national figure.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
Rhode Island's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $31,810 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 $32,260 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Rhode Island 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.