Molding, Coremaking, and Casting Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic Salary

It’s a stretch — at the median salary of $75K, rent takes 40% of take-home pay. A 2-bedroom at the HUD Fair Market Rent runs $2,031/month. The 30% guideline puts the comfortable ceiling at roughly $1,500/month in rent — so roommates or a 1-bedroom would ease the math significantly.

The 10th-percentile wage — what new molding, coremaking, and casting machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastics typically earn — is $60K/year. Take-home on that works out to about $3,609/month. At HUD’s $2,031/month FMR, rent would take 56% of that take-home — above the 30% guideline, so a 1-bedroom or shared housing is likely necessary starting out.

Local pay is 68% above the national median — $75K here vs. $44K nationally. Keep in mind cost of living here is 6% above the national average, which offsets some of that premium.

Bremerton-Silverdale-Port Orchard pays $75K median vs. the U.S. average of $44K — that’s +68%. After adjusting for local cost of living (RPP 105.61), the purchasing-power equivalent is $71K — still ahead of the national median.

The median is $74,650 a year, that works out to about $36 an hour. But the range is wide: entry-level workers start around $60,150, and experienced molding, coremaking, and casting machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastics can clear $97,590. These are BLS numbers, based on employer-reported data, not self-reported surveys.

On that salary, you'd take home roughly $5,075/month after taxes. A 2-bedroom here rents for about $2,031/month, which eats 40% 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.

Bremerton-Silverdale-Port Orchard has a Regional Price Parity of 105.61 (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 molding, coremaking, and casting machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic salary is worth about $70,685 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.