Sewing Machine Operators in New York
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$31,618
after federal, FICA and New York tax
Tax takes
$6,862
17.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$29,377
New York costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in New York — 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
$38,480
Kept after tax
$31,618
Worth in national money
$29,377
State rank
16
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. New York pays sewing machine operators a middle wage of $38,480, ranking 16 of 50 states and sitting about 4.94% above the national middle.
- Against 493 occupations New York publishes, sewing machine operators lands at 463. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Costs eat into it here. Of $38,480, tax leaves $31,618 — and because New York is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $29,377 would nationally. Averages run higher here, $41,930, since top earners drag the number up.
- New York's median for sewing machine operators is $38,480, about 4.94% above the national figure and 16 of 50 states reporting. Whether that premium reaches the worker depends on the two adjustments below, which is the part a wage table cannot tell you.
- Within New York, this work ranks 463 of 493 occupations by median pay, in the bottom quartile. The within-state position is the more salient one for anyone weighing this job against alternatives available to them locally.
- After tax, $31,618 remains from the New York median of $38,480 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $29,377 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $41,930 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Sewing Machine Operators
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $33,790 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $38,480 |
| Top tenth earn over | $55,290 |
| This salary | $38,480 |
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 New York | $31,618 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $33,099 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$4,683 |
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 | $36,637 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$5,664 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 108 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in New York earn less than $38,480. The published range is $33,790 up to $55,290, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- In New York the take-home figure of $31,618, from $38,480, assumes one filer, no dependants, and nothing paid into a pension before tax. Each of those lowers the bill, so treat it as the plain case. City and school-district income taxes are not included either, and in a few states those are real money. It ranks 463 of 493 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $29,377, the adjusted value of that $38,480 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of New York. 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 463 of 493 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for sewing machine operators in New York the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $33,790 to $55,290. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Take-home for New York is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $31,618 from $38,480. Each omitted item reduces taxable income, so the figure is a lower bound on retained pay for this household shape. Municipal and school-district income taxes are excluded, which understates the burden materially in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The occupation ranks 463 of 493 locally.
- This $29,377 adjusted figure, worked from $38,480, 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 463 of 493 in the state. The occupation ranks 463 of 493 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 $41,930, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $33,790 at the bottom tenth to $55,290 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
The number and the value are different things. New York costs more than the national average, so this take-home stretches like $29,377 rather than its face figure.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Four deductions, stacked. The federal layer and the two payroll taxes apply wherever you work; New York then takes its own share, leaving $31,618.
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 New York is $41,930. 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 is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($33,790 to $55,290) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to New York rather than a national figure.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
New York's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $29,377 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 $31,618 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and New York 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.