Start with the answer
Extruding and Drawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic pay in Delaware and Rhode Island
The May 2025 BLS OEWS median for Extruding and Drawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic is $46,140 per year in Delaware. It is $61,350 per year in Rhode Island. Delaware is 24.8% below Rhode Island on the published median.
Both rows use SOC 51-4021 and the same annual wage metric. Median means the middle of each area's published wage spread. It is not one worker's pay. The larger median is not proof that one place gives a better job or a better result. It is one wage fact from one source period.
BLS lists 470 wage and salary jobs in Delaware and 430 in Rhode Island. Those are survey job counts, not open posts. Read pay, job scale, local share, and price level as separate facts before you make a choice.
Evidence: bls-oews-may-2025 · Rule: same-soc-same-metric-pair · nominal-median-gap · employment-not-openings
