Home / Lathe and Turning Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic / Best Cities Best Cities for Lathe and Turning Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastics Cities ranked by purchasing power — where lathe and turning machine tool setters, operators, and tenders, metal and plastics 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 Pittsburgh, PA Metro 1.42 $66,500 $71,892 21% 2 Colorado State 1.34 $71,670 $67,998 31% 3 Alabama State 1.33 $58,490 $67,153 20% 4 Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI Metro 1.29 $64,950 $65,276 27% 5 Maine State 1.28 $64,800 $64,930 24% 6 West Virginia State 1.26 $53,660 $63,729 19% 7 Minnesota State 1.23 $61,000 $62,245 25% 8 San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA Metro 1.22 $74,420 $61,913 51% 9 Pennsylvania State 1.16 $57,020 $58,784 27% 10 Nevada State 1.15 $58,240 $58,124 30% 11 North Carolina State 1.13 $53,840 $57,034 29% 12 Iowa State 1.12 $50,370 $56,469 23% 13 Illinois State 1.11 $54,930 $56,396 29% 14 Louisiana State 1.11 $50,560 $56,115 25% 15 Massachusetts State 1.11 $60,870 $56,101 44% 16 Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia, NC-SC Metro 1.11 $53,840 $56,200 33% 17 Arizona State 1.09 $55,840 $55,342 32% 18 Missouri State 1.09 $48,950 $55,248 25% 19 Ohio State 1.09 $49,880 $55,177 25% 20 Wisconsin State 1.09 $51,020 $55,276 26% 21 Indiana State 1.08 $49,420 $54,608 26% 22 Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH Metro 1.08 $61,890 $54,529 50% 23 California State 1.07 $60,180 $54,363 45% 24 Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI Metro 1.07 $49,210 $53,958 30% 25 Georgia State 1.06 $50,180 $53,726 34% 26 South Carolina State 1.06 $49,490 $53,793 30% 27 Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX Metro 1.06 $52,070 $53,570 37% 28 Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin, TN Metro 1.06 $51,850 $53,898 36% 29 Kentucky State 1.05 $47,060 $53,175 24% 30 Kansas State 1.04 $47,310 $52,567 26% 31 Nebraska State 1.02 $47,350 $51,749 26% 32 Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA Metro 1.02 $50,180 $51,839 39% 33 Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD Metro 1.02 $54,850 $51,843 37% 34 Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA Metro 1.02 $60,110 $51,597 45% 35 Michigan State 1.00 $46,680 $50,574 29% 36 Maryland State 0.99 $54,860 $50,238 37% 37 Texas State 0.99 $48,020 $50,230 35% 38 Oklahoma State 0.98 $43,680 $49,356 27% 39 Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD Metro 0.95 $49,940 $48,251 38% 40 Virginia State 0.93 $48,920 $47,266 39% 41 Connecticut State 0.91 $49,380 $45,892 38% 42 New Hampshire State 0.91 $48,980 $46,208 39% 43 Arkansas State 0.89 $39,060 $45,261 27% 44 New York State 0.89 $50,760 $45,120 44% 45 Tennessee State 0.88 $40,730 $44,514 37% 46 Florida State 0.87 $44,710 $44,049 46% 47 New Jersey State 0.87 $48,180 $44,283 45% 48 Oregon State 0.80 $41,640 $40,427 46%
Data Sources: Salary: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (OEWS). Cost of Living: BEA Regional Price Parities (2024). Rent: HUD Fair Market Rents (FY2025).