Start with the answer
Multiple Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic pay in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX and Madison, WI
The May 2025 BLS OEWS median for Multiple Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic is $80,110 per year in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX. It is $48,170 per year in Madison, WI. Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX is 66.3% above Madison, WI on the published median.
Both rows use SOC 51-4081 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 5,440 wage and salary jobs in Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX and 190 in Madison, WI. 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.