Sawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Wood in California
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$39,222
after federal, FICA and California tax
Tax takes
$8,168
17.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$34,839
California costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in California — 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
$47,390
Kept after tax
$39,222
Worth in national money
$34,839
State rank
9
of 46 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- California is one of the better-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $47,390, which ranks 9 of 46 states with published figures. That is about 10.8% above the national middle.
- Within California this is lower-paid work. Of 492 occupations the state publishes figures for, this job ranks 392. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- The wage here flatters the reality. From $47,390 the take-home is $39,222. But California costs more than the national average, so that money behaves more like $34,839 would elsewhere. Worth knowing before comparing offers across states. The average is higher, $47,980, because the best-paid pull it up.
- California ranks 9 of 46 states publishing a median for sawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, wood, at $47,390 — about 10.8% above the national median. A state's position on nominal pay is the figure wage tables report and the least informative of the three on this page, because it survives neither the tax adjustment nor the price adjustment intact for most occupations.
- Against every occupation California reports, sawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, wood ranks 392 of 492, in the lowest quartile of the state's distribution. That position is set by the local labor market and is independent of how the state compares nationally for this work.
- Retained pay after federal, FICA and California income tax is $39,222 for sawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, wood, from $47,390. The state's price level exceeds the national average, so the price-adjusted equivalent is $34,839. ⚠️ This is purchasing power and not a wage; cross-state offer comparisons that stop at the nominal figure systematically overvalue high-cost states. The mean of $47,980 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Sawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Wood
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $37,330 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $47,390 |
| Top tenth earn over | $59,160 |
| This salary | $47,390 |
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 California | $39,222 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $40,258 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$6,589 |
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 | $46,101 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$7,969 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 113 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $47,390 as a midpoint for California, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $37,330 and the ninetieth is $59,160 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $39,222 take-home in California comes from $47,390. 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 392 of 492.
- One number stands for prices across all of California, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $34,839, the adjusted value of that $47,390 median, as a way to compare states fairly, not as a quote for any particular place. The two datasets are also from different years. This job sits at 392 of 492 in the state.
- The California median of $47,390 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $37,330 to $59,160. 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 $39,222, from $47,390, assumes a single California 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 392 of 492 locally, and the state ranks 9 of 46 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for California, so $34,839 — the adjusted value of that $47,390 median — establishes comparability between states rather than accuracy within one. The wage and parity series are dated independently, each following its own publication cycle, and neither is projected forward. This occupation sits at 392 of 492 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $37,330 at the bottom tenth to $59,160 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
Not on its own. Prices in California run above the national level, so the same dollars buy less here. Adjusted for that, this pay is worth $34,839 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Into four separate taxes, not one. Federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare apply everywhere, and California adds its own income tax on top — which is why $39,222 of this wage survives to your account.
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 46 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($37,330 to $59,160) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to California rather than a national figure.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
California's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $34,839 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 $39,222 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and California 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 46 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.