How much do Grinding, Lapping, Polishing, and Buffing Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic make in Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, PA-NJ?

Percentile spread

For Grinding, Lapping, Polishing, and Buffing Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic, the published 10th percentile is $32,220 and the 90th percentile is $53,740. The difference is $21,520, which is 44.5% of the median. Ten percent of measured wages fall below the 10th percentile and ten percent fall above the 90th. How to read a percentile.

The middle half of the distribution, from the 25th percentile at $40,520 to the 75th at $49,430, covers $8,910.

The mean annual wage is $45,990, which sits below the median of $48,370. Median and mean measure different points in the same distribution.

National and state comparison

The Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, PA-NJ median is 3.9% higher than the national median of $46,550 for Grinding, Lapping, Polishing, and Buffing Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic. In 2024 national prices the local median is $48,385, which is 3.9% higher than that same national median. The national figure is already in national prices because the United States parity is 100.

It is 1.5% higher than the Pennsylvania median of $47,650.

Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, PA-NJ covers more than one state. The state comparison uses Pennsylvania, the primary state on the BLS area record.

Price-adjusted pay

The 2024 all-items regional price parity for Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, PA-NJ is 99.968, with the United States at 100. The Bureau of Economic Analysis released those parities on February 19, 2026. Dividing the May 2025 median of $48,370 by that parity and multiplying by 100 puts Grinding, Lapping, Polishing, and Buffing Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic at $48,385 in national prices. The wage year and the price year are different. Compare this wage after prices.

Nearby metros

23 other metropolitan areas within 200 miles publish a annual median for Grinding, Lapping, Polishing, and Buffing Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic. Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, PA-NJ ranks 9th of 24 on that median, counting itself. Distance is the great-circle mileage between Census Bureau internal points (U.S. Census Bureau, 2024 Gazetteer Files, Core Based Statistical Areas, internal points (INTPTLAT, INTPTLONG).).

• Reading, PA is 38 miles away, with a median of $53,090 and employment of 350. That median is 9.8% higher than the median here. In 2024 national prices it is $54,698, against $48,385 here.
• Scranton--Wilkes-Barre, PA is 45 miles away, with a median of $39,440 and employment of 90. That median is 18.5% lower than the median here. In 2024 national prices it is $42,157, against $48,385 here.
• Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD is 62 miles away, with a median of $47,650 and employment of 710. That median is 1.5% lower than the median here. In 2024 national prices it is $46,463, against $48,385 here.

Employment share

Grinding, Lapping, Polishing, and Buffing Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic accounts for 0.12% of wage-and-salary employment in Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, PA-NJ (460 of 377,180). Nationally the occupation is 0.04% of employment (67,000 of 155,495,730). The local share is 2.83 times the national share. That ratio is the location quotient computed from these May 2025 employment counts. It is not copied from the location-quotient column in the BLS bulk file.