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Salary data from BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics

Heat Treating Equipment Setters, Operators, And Tenders, Metal And Plastic Salary: Wisconsin vs Colorado

Heat Treating Equipment Setters, Operators, And Tenders, Metal And Plastic earn a median of $47,950 in Wisconsin and $56,810 in Colorado. That is a nominal gap of $8,860 (-15.6%), with Colorado 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.

$47,950
Wisconsin median
$50,959 after COL
$56,810
Colorado median
$55,128 after COL
-15.6%
Nominal gap
Colorado leads
-7.6%
Adjusted gap
Colorado leads after COL

The story behind the numbers

On raw wages, Colorado pays $8,860 more per year than Wisconsin for heat treating equipment setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic, a gap of +15.6%.

After adjusting for cost of living, Colorado still comes out ahead, with roughly $4,168 of extra purchasing power (+7.6% real gap). Local prices do not reverse the nominal advantage.

Full breakdown by location

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

Heat Treating Equipment Setters, Operators, And Tenders, Metal And Plastic

Wisconsin

Median salary
$47,950
Mean salary
$51,220
Employment
510
Location quotient
1.85
Jobs per 1,000
0.2
COL-adjusted median
$50,959
Regional Price Parity
94.1%

Exact state RPP match.

Full Heat Treating Equipment Setters, Operators, And Tenders, Metal And Plastic page for Wisconsin →

Heat Treating Equipment Setters, Operators, And Tenders, Metal And Plastic

Colorado

Median salary
$56,810
Mean salary
$61,160
Employment
80
Location quotient
0.30
Jobs per 1,000
0.0
COL-adjusted median
$55,128
Regional Price Parity
103.1%

Exact state RPP match.

Full Heat Treating Equipment Setters, Operators, And Tenders, Metal And Plastic page for Colorado →

Related pages

Keep digging into heat treating equipment 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.