Multiple Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic in Tennessee
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$37,237
after federal, FICA and Tennessee tax
Tax takes
$6,393
14.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$40,249
Tennessee costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Tennessee — 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
$43,630
Kept after tax
$37,237
Worth in national money
$40,249
State rank
35
of 45 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is on the low side in Tennessee. The middle earner gets $43,630. That is 35 of 45 states, and about 7.52% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 491 occupations Tennessee reports figures for, this is number 360.
- Here is where Tennessee does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $43,630 you keep $37,237, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $40,249 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $45,050, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For multiple machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic, Tennessee sits in the lower band at $43,630, ranking 35 of 45 and trailing the national median by about 7.52%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- In Tennessee's occupational distribution, multiple machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic sits at 360 of 491 — 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 Tennessee income tax, retained pay for multiple machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic on $43,630 is $37,237. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $40,249 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 $45,050 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 | $34,020 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $43,630 |
| Top tenth earn over | $58,390 |
| This salary | $43,630 |
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 Tennessee | $37,237 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $37,237 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,930 |
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 | $43,630 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,334 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 93 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Tennessee earn less than $43,630. The published range is $34,020 up to $58,390, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Tennessee's $37,237, worked from $43,630. 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 360 of 491.
- Two cautions on $40,249, the adjusted value of that $43,630 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Tennessee. 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 360 of 491 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for multiple machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic in Tennessee the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $34,020 to $58,390. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The Tennessee take-home of $37,237, on $43,630 for work ranking 360 of 491 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 360 of 491 in the state.
- This $40,249 adjusted figure, worked from $43,630, 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 360 of 491 in the state. The occupation ranks 360 of 491 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 $45,050 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 $34,020 at the bottom tenth to $58,390 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
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 $40,249.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Most of it arrives. $37,237 lands after tax, since there is no state income tax on wages here — though the federal floor is identical in every state.
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 Tennessee is $45,050. 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 ($34,020 to $58,390) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Tennessee rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Tennessee'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 $40,249 in national-average terms. The adjustment uses an all-items index and does not isolate housing.
Why is the take-home ratio comparatively high in this state?
Tennessee levies no personal income tax on wages, so take-home of $37,237 reflects the federal layer and FICA alone. Federal income tax and FICA are unchanged; states without a wage income tax generally recover revenue through consumption and property bases instead.
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.