Florida · BLS May 2025

How much do metal-refining furnace operators and tenders make in Florida?

Metal-refining furnace operators and tenders in Florida earn a median of $49,780 a year ($23.94 an hour), about $3,515 a month after federal and FICA tax. Figure from the BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey. The survey counted 700 of these jobs in Florida in May 2025.

Median pay · Florida

$49,780A year, or $24 an hour.
Take-home a month$3,515After federal and FICA tax at 15.3%
Worth at national prices$48,137Prices here sit at 103.4 against 100
Against the nation8.5% belowNational median $54,430
What metal-refining furnace operators and tenders earn in Florida, May 2025
PercentileAnnualHourly
10th percentile1 in 10 earn less$38,260$18
25th percentile$46,950$23
MedianHalf earn more, half less$49,780$24
75th percentile$59,740$29
90th percentile1 in 10 earn more$60,790$29
MeanAll pay divided by all jobs$51,310$25

Wage survey · BLS May 2025

How we got this
  1. Median wage in FloridaBLS OEWS May 2025. Half of the people in this job were paid more than this, half less.$49,780
  2. Median hourly wagePublished separately by BLS, not divided out of the annual figure.$23.94
  3. Take-home after federal and FICA tax$3,515 a month at an effective rate of 15.3%.$42,178 a year
  4. Worth at national average pricesPrices in Florida sit at 103.4 against a national 100 (BEA, 2024).$48,137
  5. Against the national medianThe national median is $54,430.8.5% below
  6. Jobs countedA concentration of 0.65 against the nation's 1.00.700
What we assumed
  • Wages are BLS OEWS survey estimates for May 2025, not job postings or offers.
  • OEWS surveys wage and salary workers. The self-employed and business owners are outside it.
  • Take-home assumes one 2026 filer, filing single, taking the standard deduction, with no dependents, pre-tax retirement contributions or local income tax.
  • Regional price parities compare price levels between places in one year. They are not inflation, and they do not adjust for what a household actually buys.
Technical details

Method occupation-wage-v1Data bls-oews-2025-05-v1, us-tax-2026-v1, bea-rpp-2024-v1, census-acs5-2024-v1

What lands in the bank

Tax year 2026 · Interactive

Estimated on the median salary of $49,780 in Florida, for a single filer taking the standard deduction in 2026. Explore other wage levels and filing statuses below.

$49,780
$35,000$65,000
Filing status:
Gross salary breakdown$49,780
Net 85%
Fed 8%
FICA 8%
Annual take-home$42,178After all taxes
Monthly deposit$3,515Estimated per month
Biweekly paycheck$1,622Every 2 weeks (26/yr)
Effective tax rate15.3%Total tax burden
Federal income tax$3,794 / yr
Florida state income taxNo state wage tax$0
FICA (Social Security & Medicare)$3,808 / yr

Run the numbers on your own pay

Same U.S. tax tables as the rest of the site. Change the salary, state, or filing status.

What $49,780 is worth in Florida

Prices in Florida sit at 103.4 against a national average of 100, so $49,780 earned here buys what $48,137 buys at national average prices.

  • Rents. 122.1 against 100, the component that moves most between states.
  • Against local households. The median household in Florida takes in $74,568, so this occupation's median is 0.67 times that, on one income.
  • How common the job is here. 35% less concentrated in Florida than in the country as a whole.

Compare two places properly →

Reading the numbers

What stands out for metal-refining furnace operators and tenders in Florida

Florida does not tax wages, so the take-home figure above loses only federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare.

Rents in Florida index at 122.1 (U.S. = 100) while prices overall index at 103.4, a gap of +18.7 pts. For a renter, housing moves the local cost of living more than anything else.

Pay is tightly grouped: the 90th percentile ($60,790) is only 1.6 times the 10th ($38,260), so most metal-refining furnace operators and tenders here earn within a narrow band.

The median for this job is 0.7 times the median household income in Florida ($74,568). Many households have two earners, so one paycheck at this level falls short of what a typical local household brings in.

Common questions

Metal-Refining Furnace Operators and Tenders pay in Florida, answered

How much do metal-refining furnace operators and tenders make in Florida?

The median wage for metal-refining furnace operators and tenders in Florida is $49,780 a year, or $23.94 an hour.

Half earn more than that and half earn less. The figure comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics occupational wage survey for May 2025.

What is the average Metal-Refining Furnace Operators and Tenders salary in Florida?

BLS’s mean (average) wage for metal-refining furnace operators and tenders in Florida is $51,310 a year. The median is $49,780.

The mean sits higher when a smaller group of high earners pulls the average up. For a typical paycheck, the median is the better middle.

What is the hourly pay for metal-refining furnace operators and tenders in Florida?

The median hourly wage is $23.94. At a full-time year that lines up with about $49,780 a year.

BLS May 2025; hourly and annual figures come from the same survey.

What is the starting salary for metal-refining furnace operators and tenders in Florida?

BLS does not publish starting pay. The closest figure it does publish is the low end of the range: in Florida, the lowest-paid 10% of metal-refining furnace operators and tenders earn under $38,260 a year and a quarter earn under $46,950 ($18.40 and $22.57 an hour).

New hires often start somewhere in that band, but the May 2025 survey does not record experience, so read it as a floor to compare an offer against rather than a typical first salary.

What is the salary range for metal-refining furnace operators and tenders in Florida?

The overall salary range for metal-refining furnace operators and tenders in Florida spans from $38,260 for the bottom 10% to $60,790 for top earners.

The middle 50% earn between $46,950 and $59,740 a year, with the overall median at $49,780.

What is the take-home pay for metal-refining furnace operators and tenders in Florida?

On the median wage of $49,780, a single filer taking the 2026 standard deduction keeps an estimated $42,178 a year, or roughly $3,515 a month.

That is after federal and FICA tax, an effective rate of 15.3%.

Florida levies no state income tax on wages, so nothing is withheld for it.

How much does metal-refining furnace operators and tenders make a month in Florida?

On the median annual salary of $49,780, estimated take-home pay is roughly $3,515 a month after federal, state, and FICA taxes.

For workers paid on a standard biweekly schedule (26 pay periods per year), each paycheck is approximately $1,622 net.

Do metal-refining furnace operators and tenders earn more in Florida than in the rest of the country?

No. The median in Florida is 8.5% below the national median of $54,430.

Nominal pay is only half the comparison: prices in Florida sit at 103.4 against a national 100, so the gap in what the money buys is different from the gap in the salary.

Is $49,780 a good salary in Florida?

It is 0.67 times the median household income of $74,568. A household often has more than one earner, so a single salary at this level goes further than the ratio alone suggests.

Prices in Florida run at 103.4 against a national average of 100, with rents at 122.1, so $49,780 here buys about what $48,137 buys at national average prices.

What do the highest-paid metal-refining furnace operators and tenders earn in Florida?

The top tenth earn $60,790 a year or more. The 10th-percentile wage is $38,260.

Experience, specialty, employer and the part of Florida someone works in all move a wage inside that range; the survey reports the spread, not the reason for it.

How many metal-refining furnace operators and tenders are there in Florida?

The survey counted 700 of these jobs in Florida for May 2025.

That makes the occupation 35% less concentrated here than in the country as a whole. It counts wage and salary jobs, so the self-employed are outside it.

Sources

Where this data comes from

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