Woodworking Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Except Sawing in Utah
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$31,978
after federal, FICA and Utah tax
Tax takes
$7,282
18.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$33,661
Utah costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Utah — 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
$39,260
Kept after tax
$31,978
Worth in national money
$33,661
State rank
36
of 47 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Utah is among the lower-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $39,260, ranking 36 of 47 states — about 9.5% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
- Measured against other jobs in Utah, this one sits low: 414 of 487 occupations with published pay, in the bottom quarter.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $39,260 you keep $31,978 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $33,661 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $42,040, since top earners drag the number up.
- Utah ranks 36 of 47 for woodworking machine setters, operators, and tenders, except sawing, with a median of $39,260 — about 9.5% below the national figure. A nominal shortfall is not by itself a real one: lower-paying states frequently carry lower tax and lower price levels, and the adjusted figures below are where that is settled rather than assumed.
- Woodworking machine setters, operators, and tenders, except sawing occupies position 414 of 487 in Utah's occupational wage distribution, in the bottom quartile. National ranking and local ranking answer different questions and frequently disagree; this is the one a resident experiences.
- Retained pay in Utah is $31,978 after the full tax stack, from $39,260. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $33,661 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $42,040 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Woodworking Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Except Sawing
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $35,360 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $39,260 |
| Top tenth earn over | $49,680 |
| This salary | $39,260 |
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 Utah | $31,978 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $33,725 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$1,045 |
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 | $37,086 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$1,264 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 95 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $39,260 as a midpoint for Utah, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $35,360 and the ninetieth is $49,680 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Utah's $31,978, worked from $39,260. That is on purpose. It lets states be compared with each other, not with each other's family circumstances. Local city taxes are left out. Locally this work ranks 414 of 487.
- Two cautions on $33,661, the adjusted value of that $39,260 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Utah. 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 414 of 487 locally.
- The Utah median of $39,260 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $35,360 to $49,680. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- The Utah take-home of $31,978, on $39,260 for work ranking 414 of 487 locally, models the simplest household deliberately: holding it constant is what makes the interstate comparison meaningful. It also means the absolute figure overstates liability for most real filers, and municipal income taxes are outside the model entirely. The occupation ranks 414 of 487 in the state.
- This $33,661 adjusted figure, worked from $39,260, 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 414 of 487 in the state. The occupation ranks 414 of 487 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 $42,040, 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?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $35,360 and the top tenth $49,680, so most people doing this work in Utah sit within a fairly tight band.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in Utah sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $33,661 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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 Utah's own levy, $31,978 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 Utah is $42,040. 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 ($35,360 to $49,680) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Utah rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Utah'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 $33,661 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 $31,978 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Utah 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.