Separating, Filtering, Clarifying, Precipitating, and Still Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders in Virginia
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$47,313
after federal, FICA and Virginia tax
Tax takes
$12,167
20.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$46,961
Virginia costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Virginia — 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
$59,480
Kept after tax
$47,313
Worth in national money
$46,961
State rank
5
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Virginia is one of the better-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $59,480, which ranks 5 of 50 states with published figures. That is about 15.25% above the national middle.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 489 occupations Virginia reports figures for, this is number 250.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $59,480 the take-home is $47,313, which is worth about $46,961 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is higher, $62,230, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Virginia ranks 5 of 50 states publishing a median for separating, filtering, clarifying, precipitating, and still machine setters, operators, and tenders, at $59,480 — about 15.25% 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.
- In Virginia's occupational distribution, separating, filtering, clarifying, precipitating, and still machine setters, operators, and tenders sits at 250 of 489 — 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.
- Virginia's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for separating, filtering, clarifying, precipitating, and still machine setters, operators, and tenders on its $59,480 median: $47,313 retained after tax becomes $46,961 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $62,230 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 | $37,460 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $59,480 |
| Top tenth earn over | $80,820 |
| This salary | $59,480 |
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 Virginia | $47,313 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $49,972 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$4,464 |
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 | $56,170 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$5,399 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 101 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $59,480 as a midpoint for Virginia, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $37,460 and the ninetieth is $80,820 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $47,313 take-home in Virginia comes from $59,480. 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 250 of 489.
- Two cautions on $46,961, the adjusted value of that $59,480 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Virginia. 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 250 of 489 locally.
- The Virginia median of $59,480 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $37,460 to $80,820. 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 $47,313, from $59,480, assumes a single Virginia 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 250 of 489 locally, and the state ranks 5 of 50 for it.
- This $46,961 adjusted figure, worked from $59,480, 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 250 of 489 in the state. The occupation ranks 250 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 $62,230, 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?
The label is broader than the work. From $37,460 at the bottom tenth to $80,820 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
The number and the value are different things. Virginia costs more than the national average, so this take-home stretches like $46,961 rather than its face figure.
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 Virginia adds its own income tax on top — which is why $47,313 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 50 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 Virginia is $62,230. 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 ($37,460) and the ninetieth ($80,820) 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?
Virginia's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $46,961 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 $47,313 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Virginia 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.