Accountants and Auditors in Pennsylvania
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$61,981
after federal, FICA and Pennsylvania tax
Tax takes
$17,019
21.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$63,570
Pennsylvania costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Pennsylvania — roughly, since only five points along the band are published.
One filer, standard deduction, no dependants and nothing paid in before tax — the same household the rest of this page uses, so the comparison holds. City and school-district income taxes are not included.
Median here
$79,000
Kept after tax
$61,981
Worth in national money
$63,570
State rank
29
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Pennsylvania pays accountants and auditors around $79,000 at the midpoint, 29 of 51 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in Pennsylvania. It ranks 122 out of 492 occupations the state publishes figures for, which puts it in the top quarter locally.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $79,000, tax leaves $61,981, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $63,570 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $86,070, since top earners drag the number up.
- For accountants and auditors the Pennsylvania median is $79,000, ranking 29 of 51 states reporting. Mid-band nominal positions are the ones most frequently reordered by the adjustments, because no large wage premium exists to absorb a state's tax or price level.
- Within Pennsylvania, accountants and auditors ranks 122 of 492 occupations by median pay, placing it in the top quartile of the local distribution. This is the comparison a resident actually makes — against neighbors rather than against the same job elsewhere.
- Because Pennsylvania sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for accountants and auditors — median $79,000 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $61,981 retained, $63,570 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $86,070 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
Choose your filing status and local taxes, compare pay, and keep a shortlist.Compare wage and personal-pay outcomes by state, with selected resident local taxes and saved career choices.
Pay band: Accountants and Auditors
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $50,680 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $79,000 |
| Top tenth earn over | $130,270 |
| This salary | $79,000 |
Positions between the published tenth, quarter, half, three-quarter and ninetieth points are estimated by straight line.
The same pay, somewhere else
The state median for this job
| Take-home in Pennsylvania | $61,981 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $64,407 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$2,708 |
State income tax and state price levels only. No city income tax, and no housing market.
What you would need there
The state median for this job
| To match take-home only | $75,553 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$3,741 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 98 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Pennsylvania earn less than $79,000. The published range is $50,680 up to $130,270, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- In Pennsylvania the take-home figure of $61,981, from $79,000, assumes one filer, no dependants, and nothing paid into a pension before tax. Each of those lowers the bill, so treat it as the plain case. City and school-district income taxes are not included either, and in a few states those are real money. It ranks 122 of 492 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $63,570, the adjusted value of that $79,000 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Pennsylvania. No actual address matches that. The wage figures and price figures are also from different years. Each is published on its own timetable. This work sits at 122 of 492 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for accountants and auditors in Pennsylvania the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $50,680 to $130,270. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Take-home for Pennsylvania is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $61,981 from $79,000. Each omitted item reduces taxable income, so the figure is a lower bound on retained pay for this household shape. Municipal and school-district income taxes are excluded, which understates the burden materially in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The occupation ranks 122 of 492 locally.
- This $63,570 adjusted figure, worked from $79,000, rests on a state-level price parity averaging over within-state dispersion larger than much of the between-state dispersion. Wage and price vintages differ by publication schedule. The result is directionally sound and not address-specific, for work at 122 of 492 in the state. The occupation ranks 122 of 492 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $86,070, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $50,680, the highest tenth $130,270, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in Pennsylvania sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $63,570 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Four deductions, stacked. The federal layer and the two payroll taxes apply wherever you work; Pennsylvania then takes its own share, leaving $61,981.
Can I compare this job across every state?
All 51 jurisdictions report this work, which makes the ranking a like-for-like one.
How does the published median differ from the mean for this occupation?
The median is the midpoint of the distribution; the mean for this occupation in Pennsylvania is $86,070. Wage distributions are right-skewed, so the mean exceeds the median wherever a minority earn substantially more. BLS publishes both because substituting one for the other misstates a typical worker's pay.
What drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($50,680) and the ninetieth ($130,270) exceeds the family median dispersion. SOC codes aggregate roles differing in seniority, industry and specialisation, and BLS does not disaggregate below the detailed occupation level, so within-title variance is not separable from the published series.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Pennsylvania's regional price parity is at or below the national average, so nominal wages understate purchasing power. Take-home deflated by the state price level is $63,570 in national-average terms. The adjustment uses an all-items index and does not isolate housing.
What accounts for the gap between gross wage and take-home here?
Take-home of $61,981 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Pennsylvania income tax for a single filer with no adjustments. The state layer is levied in addition to the federal one; only its rate and base differ between states.
Is this occupation's state coverage complete?
State-level estimates are published for all 51 jurisdictions for this occupation, so cross-state comparison is not confounded by suppression. ⚠️ Estimates remain survey-based and carry sampling error; small differences between adjacent states should not be over-read.