Woodworking Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Except Sawing in New Jersey
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$40,901
after federal, FICA and New Jersey tax
Tax takes
$8,779
17.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$37,564
New Jersey costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in New Jersey — 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
$49,680
Kept after tax
$40,901
Worth in national money
$37,564
State rank
4
of 47 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is strong here. New Jersey's middle earner gets $49,680, putting the state 4 of 47 — about 14.52% ahead of the national figure.
- Against other work in New Jersey, this sits in the middle: 361 of 490 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- New Jersey is an expensive state, and the adjusted figure shows it. From $49,680 the take-home is $40,901; in national-average money that behaves like $37,564. The average comes to $53,110, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For woodworking machine setters, operators, and tenders, except sawing, New Jersey sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $49,680, ranking 4 of 47 and running about 14.52% 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.
- Woodworking machine setters, operators, and tenders, except sawing ranks 361 of 490 occupations in New Jersey 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.
- Take-home for woodworking machine setters, operators, and tenders, except sawing in New Jersey, on $49,680, is $40,901; deflated by the state's price level, $37,564. ⚠️ The deflator is statewide, so it understates the erosion in the state's metropolitan areas and overstates it outside them. At $53,110 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
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Pay band: Woodworking Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Except Sawing
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $36,670 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $49,680 |
| Top tenth earn over | $78,590 |
| This salary | $49,680 |
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 Jersey | $40,901 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $42,098 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$5,758 |
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 | $48,190 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$6,963 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 109 |
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 Jersey earn less than $49,680. The published range is $36,670 up to $78,590, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- In New Jersey the take-home figure of $40,901, from $49,680, 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 361 of 490 occupations here.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $37,564 uses one figure for the whole of New Jersey. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 490 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 361.
- Reported values are medians; for woodworking machine setters, operators, and tenders, except sawing in New Jersey the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $36,670 to $78,590. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Take-home for New Jersey is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $40,901 from $49,680. 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 361 of 490 locally.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $37,564, worked from $49,680, 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 New Jersey address, on work sitting at 361 of 490 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $53,110, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $36,670, the highest tenth $78,590, 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 $37,564 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 New Jersey's own levy, $40,901 remains.
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.
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 Jersey is $53,110. 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 ($36,670) and the ninetieth ($78,590) 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?
New Jersey's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $37,564 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 $40,901 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and New Jersey 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.