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Salary data from BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics

Separating, Filtering, Clarifying, Precipitating, And Still Machine Setters, Operators, And Tenders Salary: District of Columbia vs California

Separating, Filtering, Clarifying, Precipitating, And Still Machine Setters, Operators, And Tenders earn a median of $48,340 in District of Columbia and $59,090 in California. That is a nominal gap of $10,750 (-18.2%), with California 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.

$48,340
District of Columbia median
$43,985 after COL
$59,090
California median
$53,369 after COL
-18.2%
Nominal gap
California leads
-17.6%
Adjusted gap
California leads after COL

The story behind the numbers

On raw wages, California pays $10,750 more per year than District of Columbia for separating, filtering, clarifying, precipitating, and still machine setters, operators, and tenders, a gap of +18.2%.

After adjusting for cost of living, California still comes out ahead, with roughly $9,384 of extra purchasing power (+17.6% real gap). Local prices do not reverse the nominal advantage.

Full breakdown by location

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

Separating, Filtering, Clarifying, Precipitating, And Still Machine Setters, Operators, And Tenders

District of Columbia

Median salary
$48,340
Mean salary
$55,410
Employment
30
Location quotient
0.13
Jobs per 1,000
0.0
COL-adjusted median
$43,985
Regional Price Parity
109.9%

Exact state RPP match.

Full Separating, Filtering, Clarifying, Precipitating, And Still Machine Setters, Operators, And Tenders page for District of Columbia →

Separating, Filtering, Clarifying, Precipitating, And Still Machine Setters, Operators, And Tenders

California

Median salary
$59,090
Mean salary
$62,590
Employment
11,030
Location quotient
1.74
Jobs per 1,000
0.6
COL-adjusted median
$53,369
Regional Price Parity
110.7%

Exact state RPP match.

Full Separating, Filtering, Clarifying, Precipitating, And Still Machine Setters, Operators, And Tenders page for California →

Related pages

Keep digging into separating, filtering, clarifying, precipitating, and still 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.