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Salary data from BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics

Milling And Planing Machine Setters, Operators, And Tenders, Metal And Plastic Salary: Ann Arbor, MI vs Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, AZ

Milling And Planing Machine Setters, Operators, And Tenders, Metal And Plastic earn a median of $43,990 in Ann Arbor, MI and $65,400 in Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, AZ. That is a nominal gap of $21,410 (-32.7%), with Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, AZ 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.

$43,990
Ann Arbor, MI median
$43,606 after COL
$65,400
Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, AZ median
$63,301 after COL
-32.7%
Nominal gap
Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, AZ leads
-31.1%
Adjusted gap
Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, AZ leads after COL

The story behind the numbers

On raw wages, Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, AZ pays $21,410 more per year than Ann Arbor, MI for milling and planing machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic, a gap of +32.7%.

After adjusting for cost of living, Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, AZ still comes out ahead, with roughly $19,695 of extra purchasing power (+31.1% real gap). Local prices do not reverse the nominal advantage.

Full breakdown by location

Detailed wage, employment, and cost-of-living figures for milling and planing 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.

Milling And Planing Machine Setters, Operators, And Tenders, Metal And Plastic

Ann Arbor, MI

Median salary
$43,990
Mean salary
$47,140
Employment
60
Location quotient
3.25
Jobs per 1,000
0.3
COL-adjusted median
$43,606
Regional Price Parity
100.9%

Exact metro RPP match.

Full Milling And Planing Machine Setters, Operators, And Tenders, Metal And Plastic page for Ann Arbor, MI →

Milling And Planing Machine Setters, Operators, And Tenders, Metal And Plastic

Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, AZ

Median salary
$65,400
Mean salary
$63,110
Employment
70
Location quotient
0.35
Jobs per 1,000
0.0
COL-adjusted median
$63,301
Regional Price Parity
103.3%

Exact metro RPP match.

Full Milling And Planing Machine Setters, Operators, And Tenders, Metal And Plastic page for Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, AZ →

Related pages

Keep digging into milling and planing 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 metro specializes in.