Grinding, Lapping, Polishing, and Buffing Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic Salary

It’s a stretch — at the median salary of $49K, rent takes 89.3% of take-home pay. A 2-bedroom at the HUD Fair Market Rent runs $2,910/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 grinding, lapping, polishing, and buffing machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastics typically earn — is $36K/year. Take-home on that works out to about $2,167/month. At HUD’s $2,910/month FMR, rent would take 134% 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 — $49K locally vs. $47K nationally, a 5% difference.

New York-Newark-Jersey City pays $49K median vs. the U.S. average of $47K — that’s +5%. After adjusting for local cost of living (RPP 112.56), the purchasing-power equivalent is $43K — below the national median.

The median is $48,690 a year, that works out to about $23 an hour. But the range is wide: entry-level workers start around $36,110, and experienced grinding, lapping, polishing, and buffing machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastics can clear $67,350. These are BLS numbers, based on employer-reported data, not self-reported surveys.

On that salary, you'd take home roughly $3,257/month after taxes. A 2-bedroom here rents for about $2,910/month, which eats 89.3% 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.

New York-Newark-Jersey City has a Regional Price Parity of 112.56 (100 is the national average). Prices are above average here, so your dollar buys less than the same salary would in a cheaper metro. After cost-of-living adjustment, the median grinding, lapping, polishing, and buffing machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic salary is worth about $43,257 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.