Woodworking Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Except Sawing in Massachusetts
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$37,485
after federal, FICA and Massachusetts tax
Tax takes
$8,945
19.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$34,632
Massachusetts costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Massachusetts — 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
$46,430
Kept after tax
$37,485
Worth in national money
$34,632
State rank
14
of 47 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is strong here. Massachusetts's middle earner gets $46,430, putting the state 14 of 47 — about 7.03% ahead of the national figure.
- Against 485 occupations Massachusetts publishes, this job lands at 407. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- The wage here flatters the reality. From $46,430 the take-home is $37,485. But Massachusetts costs more than the national average, so that money behaves more like $34,632 would elsewhere. Worth knowing before comparing offers across states. The average is lower, $46,170, so pay clusters nearer the top than usual.
- For woodworking machine setters, operators, and tenders, except sawing, Massachusetts sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $46,430, ranking 14 of 47 and running about 7.03% 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.
- Within Massachusetts, this work ranks 407 of 485 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 after federal, FICA and Massachusetts income tax is $37,485 for woodworking machine setters, operators, and tenders, except sawing, from $46,430. The state's price level exceeds the national average, so the price-adjusted equivalent is $34,632. ⚠️ 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 $46,170 falls below the median, a left skew that is uncommon in wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Woodworking Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Except Sawing
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $37,190 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $46,430 |
| Top tenth earn over | $55,910 |
| This salary | $46,430 |
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 Massachusetts | $37,485 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $39,487 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$6,002 |
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 | $43,939 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$7,259 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 108 |
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 woodworking machine setters, operators, and tenders, except sawing in Massachusetts earn under $46,430 and half over. The published range runs $37,190 at the tenth percentile to $55,910 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $37,485 take-home in Massachusetts comes from $46,430. 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 407 of 485.
- Two cautions on $34,632, the adjusted value of that $46,430 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Massachusetts. 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 407 of 485 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for woodworking machine setters, operators, and tenders, except sawing in Massachusetts, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $37,190 to $55,910; 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 $37,485, from $46,430, assumes a single Massachusetts 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 407 of 485 locally, and the state ranks 14 of 47 for it.
- This $34,632 adjusted figure, worked from $46,430, 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 407 of 485 in the state. The occupation ranks 407 of 485 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $37,190 and the top tenth $55,910, so most people doing this work in Massachusetts sit within a fairly tight band.
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 $34,632 of national purchasing power.
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 Massachusetts adds its own income tax on top — which is why $37,485 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 47 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 ($37,190 to $55,910) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Massachusetts rather than a national figure.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
Massachusetts's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $34,632 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 $37,485 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Massachusetts 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.