Woodworking Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Except Sawing in Virginia
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$32,311
after federal, FICA and Virginia tax
Tax takes
$7,059
17.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$32,070
Virginia costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Virginia — 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
$39,370
Kept after tax
$32,311
Worth in national money
$32,070
State rank
35
of 47 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is on the low side in Virginia. The middle earner gets $39,370. That is 35 of 47 states, and about 9.24% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Against 489 occupations Virginia publishes, this job lands at 416. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- No great distortion either way. Virginia costs about what the country costs, so from $39,370, take-home of $32,311 is worth roughly $32,070 in national money. The average comes to $41,120, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For woodworking machine setters, operators, and tenders, except sawing, Virginia sits in the lower band at $39,370, ranking 35 of 47 and trailing the national median by about 9.24%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Within Virginia, this work ranks 416 of 489 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.
- Price parity in Virginia is near the national base, so for woodworking machine setters, operators, and tenders, except sawing, whose median is $39,370, the adjusted figure of $32,070 differs little from $32,311 retained after tax. The state's position for this occupation is therefore set by wage and tax rather than by living costs. At $41,120 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
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 | $32,500 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $39,370 |
| Top tenth earn over | $48,410 |
| This salary | $39,370 |
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 Virginia | $32,311 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $33,814 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$2,726 |
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 | $37,499 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$3,297 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 101 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $39,370 as a midpoint for Virginia, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $32,500 and the ninetieth is $48,410 — 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 Virginia's $32,311, worked from $39,370. 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 416 of 489.
- Two cautions on $32,070, the adjusted value of that $39,370 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Virginia. 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 416 of 489 locally.
- The Virginia median of $39,370 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $32,500 to $48,410. 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 Virginia take-home of $32,311, on $39,370 for work ranking 416 of 489 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 416 of 489 in the state.
- This $32,070 adjusted figure, worked from $39,370, 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 416 of 489 in the state. The occupation ranks 416 of 489 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 $41,120 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $32,500 at the bottom tenth to $48,410 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
The number and the value are different things. Virginia costs more than the national average, so this take-home stretches like $32,070 rather than its face figure.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Four deductions, stacked. The federal layer and the two payroll taxes apply wherever you work; Virginia then takes its own share, leaving $32,311.
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 Virginia is $41,120. 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 ($32,500 to $48,410) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Virginia rather than a national figure.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
Virginia's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $32,070 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 $32,311 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Virginia 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.