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

It’s a stretch — at the median salary of $51K, rent takes 100.5% of take-home pay. A 2-bedroom at the HUD Fair Market Rent runs $3,483/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 plating machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastics typically earn — is $41K/year. Take-home on that works out to about $2,437/month. At HUD’s $3,483/month FMR, rent would take 143% of that take-home — above the 30% guideline, so a 1-bedroom or shared housing is likely necessary starting out.

Local pay is 16% above the national median — $51K here vs. $44K nationally. Keep in mind cost of living here is 10% above the national average, which offsets some of that premium.

San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara pays $51K median vs. the U.S. average of $44K — that’s +16%. After adjusting for local cost of living (RPP 110.42), the purchasing-power equivalent is $46K — still ahead of the national median.

The median is $50,870 a year, that works out to about $24 an hour. But the range is wide: entry-level workers start around $40,610, and experienced plating machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastics can clear $64,190. These are BLS numbers, based on employer-reported data, not self-reported surveys.

On that salary, you'd take home roughly $3,464/month after taxes. A 2-bedroom here rents for about $3,483/month, which eats 100.5% 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.

San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara has a Regional Price Parity of 110.42 (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 plating machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic salary is worth about $46,070 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.