Best Cities for Extruding and Forming Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Synthetic and Glass Fiberss

Cities ranked by purchasing power — where extruding and forming machine setters, operators, and tenders, synthetic and glass fiberss get the most value from their salary after accounting for cost of living. A score above 1.00 means better than national average.

How we calculate this: City Score = (Local Salary ÷ National Median) ÷ (Local Cost ÷ National Avg Cost). A score of 1.20 means 20% better purchasing power than average.

#	Location	Score	Raw Salary	Adjusted Salary	Rent/Income
1	AlabamaState	1.49	$60,100	$69,001	19%
2	OhioState	1.47	$61,440	$67,965	20%
3	Columbus, OHMetro	1.42	$61,440	$65,711	25%
4	Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WIMetro	1.38	$63,760	$64,080	28%
5	IndianaState	1.36	$57,200	$63,204	22%
6	Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TXMetro	1.32	$59,330	$61,039	32%
7	Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GAMetro	1.31	$58,980	$60,930	33%
8	Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MDMetro	1.27	$61,040	$58,976	31%
9	PennsylvaniaState	1.24	$55,960	$57,691	28%
10	KansasState	1.21	$50,320	$55,911	25%
11	ArkansasState	1.19	$47,770	$55,353	22%
12	MissouriState	1.19	$48,810	$55,090	25%
13	IowaState	1.17	$48,400	$54,260	24%
14	MinnesotaState	1.16	$52,600	$53,673	29%
15	MichiganState	1.15	$49,180	$53,283	27%
16	TennesseeState	1.09	$46,200	$50,492	33%
17	TexasState	1.06	$46,970	$49,132	35%
18	GeorgiaState	1.05	$45,360	$48,565	37%
19	Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MDMetro	1.04	$50,790	$48,006	40%
20	South CarolinaState	1.02	$43,380	$47,152	35%
21	MarylandState	1.00	$50,790	$46,511	40%
22	WisconsinState	0.98	$41,980	$45,482	31%
23	FloridaState	0.93	$43,520	$42,877	47%
24	North CarolinaState	0.92	$40,090	$42,468	39%
25	Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SCMetro	0.91	$40,310	$42,077	45%
26	NebraskaState	0.89	$37,630	$41,126	33%
27	CaliforniaState	0.88	$45,290	$40,912	60%
28	New YorkState	0.85	$44,120	$39,218	50%
29	VirginiaState	0.85	$40,770	$39,391	46%
30	UtahState	0.83	$38,570	$38,493	46%
31	Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CAMetro	0.82	$44,350	$38,069	61%
32	KentuckyState	0.81	$33,330	$37,661	34%

Data Sources: Salary: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (OEWS). Cost of Living: BEA Regional Price Parities (2024). Rent: HUD Fair Market Rents (FY2025).