Woodworking Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Except Sawing in Kentucky
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$31,562
after federal, FICA and Kentucky tax
Tax takes
$6,518
17.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$34,888
Kentucky costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Kentucky — 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
$38,080
Kept after tax
$31,562
Worth in national money
$34,888
State rank
40
of 47 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is on the low side in Kentucky. The middle earner gets $38,080. That is 40 of 47 states, and about 12.22% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Against 491 occupations Kentucky publishes, this job lands at 405. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $38,080 you keep $31,562 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $34,888 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $39,540, since top earners drag the number up.
- For woodworking machine setters, operators, and tenders, except sawing, Kentucky sits in the lower band at $38,080, ranking 40 of 47 and trailing the national median by about 12.22%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Within Kentucky, this work ranks 405 of 491 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.
- Retained pay in Kentucky is $31,562 after the full tax stack, from $38,080. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $34,888 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $39,540 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
Choose your filing status and local taxes, compare pay, and keep a shortlist.Compare wage and personal-pay outcomes by state, with selected resident local taxes and saved career choices.
Pay band: Woodworking Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Except Sawing
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $32,650 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $38,080 |
| Top tenth earn over | $48,290 |
| This salary | $38,080 |
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 Kentucky | $31,562 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $32,777 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,157 |
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 | $36,568 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,400 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Kentucky earn less than $38,080. The published range is $32,650 up to $48,290, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- In Kentucky the take-home figure of $31,562, from $38,080, 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 405 of 491 occupations here.
- One number stands for prices across all of Kentucky, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $34,888, the adjusted value of that $38,080 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 405 of 491 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for woodworking machine setters, operators, and tenders, except sawing in Kentucky the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $32,650 to $48,290. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Take-home for Kentucky is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $31,562 from $38,080. 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 405 of 491 locally.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Kentucky, so $34,888 — the adjusted value of that $38,080 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 405 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
Half earn more than this and half earn less. The average sits at $39,540 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $32,650 at the tenth percentile, $48,290 at the ninetieth.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Kentucky is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $34,888 in national terms.
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 Kentucky adds its own income tax on top — which is why $31,562 of this wage survives to your account.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 47 states here, and a missing state means too few reports, not no jobs.
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 Kentucky is $39,540. 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 ($32,650 to $48,290) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Kentucky rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Kentucky'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 $34,888 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 $31,562 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Kentucky 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 47 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.