Forging Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic Salary

It’s a stretch — at the median salary of $48K, rent takes 53.2% of take-home pay. A 2-bedroom at the HUD Fair Market Rent runs $1,713/month. The 30% guideline puts the comfortable ceiling at roughly $1,000/month in rent — so roommates or a 1-bedroom would ease the math significantly.

The 10th-percentile wage — what new forging machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastics typically earn — is $36K/year. Take-home on that works out to about $2,139/month. At HUD’s $1,713/month FMR, rent would take 80% of that take-home — above the 30% guideline, so a 1-bedroom or shared housing is likely necessary starting out.

Pay here is roughly in line with the national average — $48K locally vs. $49K nationally, a 1% difference.

Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk pays $48K median vs. the U.S. average of $49K — that’s -1%. After adjusting for local cost of living (RPP 97.9), the purchasing-power equivalent is $49K — still ahead of the national median.

The median is $48,320 a year, that works out to about $23 an hour. But the range is wide: entry-level workers start around $35,650, and experienced forging machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastics can clear $78,170. These are BLS numbers, based on employer-reported data, not self-reported surveys.

On that salary, you'd take home roughly $3,217/month after taxes. A 2-bedroom here rents for about $1,713/month, which eats 53.2% of your paycheck. That's above the 30% rule of thumb, housing will be a stretch at the median salary, though you can manage with roommates or a smaller place.

Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk has a Regional Price Parity of 100 (100 is the national average). That's right at the national average. After cost-of-living adjustment, the median forging machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic salary is worth about $49,356 in national-average purchasing power.

The table above ranks every state by median pay for this role. Keep in mind that the highest-paying states tend to have the highest costs of living, so the top salary doesn't always mean the most money in your pocket.