Separating, Filtering, Clarifying, Precipitating, and Still Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders in Indiana
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$43,998
after federal, FICA and Indiana tax
Tax takes
$9,992
18.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$47,728
Indiana costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Indiana — 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
$53,990
Kept after tax
$43,998
Worth in national money
$47,728
State rank
17
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. Indiana is 17 of 50 states for this job, with a middle wage of $53,990. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- Against other work in Indiana, this sits in the middle: 264 of 493 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Here is where Indiana does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $53,990 you keep $43,998, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $47,728 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $54,140, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Indiana ranks 17 of 50 for separating, filtering, clarifying, precipitating, and still machine setters, operators, and tenders at $53,990. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- Separating, filtering, clarifying, precipitating, and still machine setters, operators, and tenders ranks 264 of 493 occupations in Indiana by median pay, in the middle bands. Within-state and national positions are separate measurements and a job commonly sits in different quartiles on each.
- After federal, FICA and Indiana income tax, retained pay for separating, filtering, clarifying, precipitating, and still machine setters, operators, and tenders on $53,990 is $43,998. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $47,728 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 $54,140 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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Pay band: Separating, Filtering, Clarifying, Precipitating, and Still Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $40,600 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $53,990 |
| Top tenth earn over | $65,590 |
| This salary | $53,990 |
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 Indiana | $43,998 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $45,561 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$843 |
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 | $52,045 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,019 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 92 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $53,990 as a midpoint for Indiana, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $40,600 and the ninetieth is $65,590 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $43,998 take-home in Indiana comes from $53,990. 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 264 of 493.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $47,728 uses one figure for the whole of Indiana. 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 264.
- The Indiana median of $53,990 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $40,600 to $65,590. 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 $43,998, from $53,990, assumes a single Indiana 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 264 of 493 locally, and the state ranks 17 of 50 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $47,728, worked from $53,990, 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 Indiana address, on work sitting at 264 of 493 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $40,600 at the tenth percentile, $65,590 at the ninetieth.
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 $47,728.
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 Indiana's own levy, $43,998 remains.
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 50 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 ($40,600 to $65,590) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Indiana rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Indiana'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 $47,728 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 $43,998 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Indiana 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 50 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.