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Salary data from BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics

Paper Goods Machine Setters, Operators, And Tenders Salary: Rhode Island vs Oregon

Paper Goods Machine Setters, Operators, And Tenders earn a median of $47,210 in Rhode Island and $57,010 in Oregon. That is a nominal gap of $9,800 (-17.2%), with Oregon 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.

$47,210
Rhode Island median
$46,158 after COL
$57,010
Oregon median
$55,156 after COL
-17.2%
Nominal gap
Oregon leads
-16.3%
Adjusted gap
Oregon leads after COL

The story behind the numbers

On raw wages, Oregon pays $9,800 more per year than Rhode Island for paper goods machine setters, operators, and tenders, a gap of +17.2%.

After adjusting for cost of living, Oregon still comes out ahead, with roughly $8,999 of extra purchasing power (+16.3% real gap). Local prices do not reverse the nominal advantage.

Full breakdown by location

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

Paper Goods Machine Setters, Operators, And Tenders

Rhode Island

Median salary
$47,210
Mean salary
$44,140
Employment
420
Location quotient
1.37
Jobs per 1,000
0.9
COL-adjusted median
$46,158
Regional Price Parity
102.3%

Exact state RPP match.

Full Paper Goods Machine Setters, Operators, And Tenders page for Rhode Island →

Paper Goods Machine Setters, Operators, And Tenders

Oregon

Median salary
$57,010
Mean salary
$59,400
Employment
890
Location quotient
0.72
Jobs per 1,000
0.5
COL-adjusted median
$55,156
Regional Price Parity
103.4%

Exact state RPP match.

Full Paper Goods Machine Setters, Operators, And Tenders page for Oregon →

Related pages

Keep digging into paper goods machine setters, operators, and tenders 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.