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Salary data from BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics

Plating Machine Setters, Operators, And Tenders, Metal And Plastic Salary: Tennessee vs Oregon

Plating Machine Setters, Operators, And Tenders, Metal And Plastic earn a median of $45,200 in Tennessee and $46,780 in Oregon. That is a nominal gap of $1,580 (-3.4%), 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.

$45,200
Tennessee median
$49,200 after COL
$46,780
Oregon median
$45,259 after COL
-3.4%
Nominal gap
Oregon leads
+8.7%
Adjusted gap
Tennessee leads after COL

The story behind the numbers

On raw wages, Oregon pays $1,580 more per year than Tennessee for plating machine setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastic, a gap of +3.4%.

After adjusting for cost of living, the picture flips. Tennessee actually offers more purchasing power, effectively paying $3,941 more in national-price-level terms (a +8.7% 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 plating 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.

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

Tennessee

Median salary
$45,200
Mean salary
$42,750
Employment
1,060
Location quotient
1.58
Jobs per 1,000
0.3
COL-adjusted median
$49,200
Regional Price Parity
91.9%

Exact state RPP match.

Full Plating Machine Setters, Operators, And Tenders, Metal And Plastic page for Tennessee →

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

Oregon

Median salary
$46,780
Mean salary
$49,790
Employment
270
Location quotient
0.68
Jobs per 1,000
0.1
COL-adjusted median
$45,259
Regional Price Parity
103.4%

Exact state RPP match.

Full Plating Machine Setters, Operators, And Tenders, Metal And Plastic page for Oregon →

Related pages

Keep digging into plating 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.