Multiple Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic in Texas
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$41,592
after federal, FICA and Texas tax
Tax takes
$7,458
15.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$42,801
Texas costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Texas — 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
$49,050
Kept after tax
$41,592
Worth in national money
$42,801
State rank
12
of 45 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. Texas pays this job a middle wage of $49,050, ranking 12 of 45 states and sitting about 3.96% above the national middle.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 493 occupations Texas reports figures for, this is number 280.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $49,050 the take-home is $41,592, which is worth about $42,801 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is higher, $55,890, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Texas's median for multiple machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic is $49,050, about 3.96% above the national figure and 12 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 Texas's occupational distribution, multiple machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic sits at 280 of 493 — 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.
- Texas's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for multiple machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic on its $49,050 median: $41,592 retained after tax becomes $42,801 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $55,890 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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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 | $33,430 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $49,050 |
| Top tenth earn over | $80,110 |
| This salary | $49,050 |
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 Texas | $41,592 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Florida | $41,592 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,597 |
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 | $49,050 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$3,344 |
| Prices in Florida | 103 vs 97 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $49,050 as a midpoint for Texas, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $33,430 and the ninetieth is $80,110 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $41,592 take-home in Texas comes from $49,050. 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 280 of 493.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $42,801 uses one figure for the whole of Texas. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 493 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 280.
- The Texas median of $49,050 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $33,430 to $80,110. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Retained pay of $41,592, from $49,050, assumes a single Texas 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 280 of 493 locally, and the state ranks 12 of 45 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $42,801, worked from $49,050, 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 Texas address, on work sitting at 280 of 493 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $55,890, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
The label is broader than the work. From $33,430 at the bottom tenth to $80,110 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in Texas sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $42,801 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
No. $41,592 survives, because Texas levies no wage income tax. The federal share does not change with the state you work in.
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.
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 Texas is $55,890. 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 drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($33,430) and the ninetieth ($80,110) exceeds the family median dispersion. SOC codes aggregate roles differing in seniority, industry and specialisation, and BLS does not disaggregate below the detailed occupation level, so within-title variance is not separable from the published series.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Texas'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 $42,801 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?
Texas levies no personal income tax on wages, so take-home of $41,592 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.