Woodworking Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Except Sawing in Oklahoma
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$29,979
after federal, FICA and Oklahoma tax
Tax takes
$6,011
16.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$33,957
Oklahoma costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Oklahoma — 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
$35,990
Kept after tax
$29,979
Worth in national money
$33,957
State rank
45
of 47 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is on the low side in Oklahoma. The middle earner gets $35,990. That is 45 of 47 states, and about 17.04% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Against 492 occupations Oklahoma publishes, this job lands at 423. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Here is where Oklahoma does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $35,990 you keep $29,979, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $33,957 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $39,140, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For woodworking machine setters, operators, and tenders, except sawing, Oklahoma sits in the lower band at $35,990, ranking 45 of 47 and trailing the national median by about 17.04%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Within Oklahoma, this work ranks 423 of 492 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 federal, FICA and Oklahoma income tax, retained pay for woodworking machine setters, operators, and tenders, except sawing on $35,990 is $29,979. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $33,957 in national-average terms. ⚠️ That figure is purchasing power, not a wage, and nobody is paid it; it is what the take-home buys. The mean of $39,140 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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Pay band: Woodworking Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Except Sawing
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $31,110 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $35,990 |
| Top tenth earn over | $61,060 |
| This salary | $35,990 |
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 Oklahoma | $29,979 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $31,098 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,955 |
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 | $34,597 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,364 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 88 |
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 Oklahoma earn under $35,990 and half over. The published range runs $31,110 at the tenth percentile to $61,060 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In Oklahoma the take-home figure of $29,979, from $35,990, 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 423 of 492 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $33,957, the adjusted value of that $35,990 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Oklahoma. 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 423 of 492 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for woodworking machine setters, operators, and tenders, except sawing in Oklahoma, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $31,110 to $61,060; 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.
- Take-home for Oklahoma is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $29,979 from $35,990. 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 423 of 492 locally.
- This $33,957 adjusted figure, worked from $35,990, 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 423 of 492 in the state. The occupation ranks 423 of 492 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 $39,140, 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?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $31,110 and the top tenth $61,060 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Oklahoma is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $33,957 in national terms.
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 Oklahoma's own levy, $29,979 remains.
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 Oklahoma is $39,140. 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 ($31,110) and the ninetieth ($61,060) 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.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Oklahoma'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 $33,957 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 $29,979 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Oklahoma 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.