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Salary data from BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics

Sawing Machine Setters, Operators, And Tenders, Wood Salary: Virginia vs Washington

Sawing Machine Setters, Operators, And Tenders, Wood earn a median of $35,730 in Virginia and $48,830 in Washington. That is a nominal gap of $13,100 (-26.8%), with Washington 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.

$35,730
Virginia median
$35,340 after COL
$48,830
Washington median
$45,630 after COL
-26.8%
Nominal gap
Washington leads
-22.6%
Adjusted gap
Washington leads after COL

The story behind the numbers

On raw wages, Washington pays $13,100 more per year than Virginia for sawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, wood, a gap of +26.8%.

After adjusting for cost of living, Washington still comes out ahead, with roughly $10,290 of extra purchasing power (+22.6% real gap). Local prices do not reverse the nominal advantage.

Full breakdown by location

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

Sawing Machine Setters, Operators, And Tenders, Wood

Virginia

Median salary
$35,730
Mean salary
$38,240
Employment
1,730
Location quotient
1.52
Jobs per 1,000
0.4
COL-adjusted median
$35,340
Regional Price Parity
101.1%

Exact state RPP match.

Full Sawing Machine Setters, Operators, And Tenders, Wood page for Virginia →

Sawing Machine Setters, Operators, And Tenders, Wood

Washington

Median salary
$48,830
Mean salary
$50,470
Employment
1,580
Location quotient
1.59
Jobs per 1,000
0.4
COL-adjusted median
$45,630
Regional Price Parity
107.0%

Exact state RPP match.

Full Sawing Machine Setters, Operators, And Tenders, Wood page for Washington →

Related pages

Keep digging into sawing machine setters, operators, and tenders, wood 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.