Separating, Filtering, Clarifying, Precipitating, and Still Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders in Maryland
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$44,562
after federal, FICA and Maryland tax
Tax takes
$11,018
19.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$42,863
Maryland costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Maryland — 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
$55,580
Kept after tax
$44,562
Worth in national money
$42,863
State rank
15
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is strong here. Maryland's middle earner gets $55,580, putting the state 15 of 50 — about 7.69% ahead of the national figure.
- Against other work in Maryland, this sits in the middle: 304 of 489 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- The wage here flatters the reality. From $55,580 the take-home is $44,562. But Maryland costs more than the national average, so that money behaves more like $42,863 would elsewhere. Worth knowing before comparing offers across states. The average is higher, $58,370, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For separating, filtering, clarifying, precipitating, and still machine setters, operators, and tenders, Maryland sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $55,580, ranking 15 of 50 and running about 7.69% above the national midpoint. Nominal advantage of this size is usually, though not always, large enough to survive the state's own tax and price levels.
- Separating, filtering, clarifying, precipitating, and still machine setters, operators, and tenders ranks 304 of 489 occupations in Maryland 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.
- Retained pay after federal, FICA and Maryland income tax is $44,562 for separating, filtering, clarifying, precipitating, and still machine setters, operators, and tenders, from $55,580. The state's price level exceeds the national average, so the price-adjusted equivalent is $42,863. ⚠️ 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 $58,370 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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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 | $36,990 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $55,580 |
| Top tenth earn over | $81,600 |
| This salary | $55,580 |
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 Maryland | $44,562 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $46,839 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$5,338 |
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 | $52,747 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$6,455 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 104 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- A median is the middle, not an offer. Half of separating, filtering, clarifying, precipitating, and still machine setters, operators, and tenders in Maryland earn under $55,580 and half over. The published range runs $36,990 at the tenth percentile to $81,600 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $44,562 take-home in Maryland comes from $55,580. 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 304 of 489.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $42,863 uses one figure for the whole of Maryland. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 489 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 304.
- Figures are distribution medians for separating, filtering, clarifying, precipitating, and still machine setters, operators, and tenders in Maryland, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $36,990 to $81,600; within-state dispersion of that width routinely exceeds the dispersion between states, so tenure, employer and metropolitan area predict an individual's pay better than geography does.
- Retained pay of $44,562, from $55,580, assumes a single Maryland 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 304 of 489 locally, and the state ranks 15 of 50 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $42,863, worked from $55,580, 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 Maryland address, on work sitting at 304 of 489 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
No — it is the middle. Half of these workers earn more and half earn less. The average is $58,370, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $36,990, the highest tenth $81,600, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
A larger wage in a dearer place is not automatically more. Adjusted for local prices, this pay behaves like $42,863 of national purchasing power.
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 Maryland's own levy, $44,562 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 50 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release one.
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 Maryland is $58,370. 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 ($36,990) and the ninetieth ($81,600) 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.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
Maryland's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $42,863 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 $44,562 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Maryland 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.