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Salary data from BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics

Forging Machine Setters, Operators, And Tenders, Metal And Plastic Salary: New Jersey vs Nebraska

Forging Machine Setters, Operators, And Tenders, Metal And Plastic earn a median of $63,630 in New Jersey and $58,560 in Nebraska. That is a nominal gap of $5,070 (+8.7%), with New Jersey paying more before any cost-of-living adjustment.

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey, May 2024 estimates. Cost-of-living adjustment uses BEA Regional Price Parities, most recent release.

$63,630
New Jersey median
$58,481 after COL
$58,560
Nebraska median
$64,992 after COL
+8.7%
Nominal gap
New Jersey leads
-10.0%
Adjusted gap
Nebraska leads after COL

The story behind the numbers

On raw wages, New Jersey pays $5,070 more per year than Nebraska for forging machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic, a gap of +8.7%.

After adjusting for cost of living, the picture flips. Nebraska actually offers more purchasing power, effectively paying $6,512 more in national-price-level terms (a +10.0% real gap). The higher nominal wage in the other location is eaten up by higher local prices.

Full breakdown by location

Detailed wage, employment, and cost-of-living figures for forging machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic in each location. Click through to the full local salary page for percentiles, outlook, and peer areas.

Forging Machine Setters, Operators, And Tenders, Metal And Plastic

New Jersey

Median salary
$63,630
Mean salary
$59,480
Employment
90
Location quotient
0.37
Jobs per 1,000
0.0
COL-adjusted median
$58,481
Regional Price Parity
108.8%

Exact state RPP match.

Full Forging Machine Setters, Operators, And Tenders, Metal And Plastic page for New Jersey →

Forging Machine Setters, Operators, And Tenders, Metal And Plastic

Nebraska

Median salary
$58,560
Mean salary
$59,530
Employment
190
Location quotient
3.36
Jobs per 1,000
0.2
COL-adjusted median
$64,992
Regional Price Parity
90.1%

Exact state RPP match.

Full Forging Machine Setters, Operators, And Tenders, Metal And Plastic page for Nebraska →

Related pages

Keep digging into forging machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic from a different angle.

Common questions about this comparison

What does the cost-of-living adjustment actually do? +

It divides each location's nominal median wage by its Regional Price Parity (RPP), which measures how local prices compare to the national average (100 = national). A wage of $100,000 in an area with RPP 120 has the same purchasing power as roughly $83,000 nationally.

Why would the nominal and adjusted winners disagree? +

High-cost metros often pay higher salaries, but not by enough to fully offset the higher cost of housing, goods, and services. When that happens, the location with the lower nominal wage actually offers more real purchasing power.

What is a location quotient? +

The location quotient measures how concentrated an occupation is in a given area versus the national average. A value of 2.0 means the occupation is twice as common there as nationally. It is a signal of what a state specializes in.