Animal Caretakers in Maine
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$30,846
after federal, FICA and Maine tax
Tax takes
$6,384
17.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$31,768
Maine costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Maine — 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
$37,230
Kept after tax
$30,846
Worth in national money
$31,768
State rank
10
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. Maine pays animal caretakers a middle wage of $37,230, ranking 10 of 51 states and sitting about 5.29% above the national middle.
- Within Maine this is lower-paid work. Of 484 occupations the state publishes figures for, animal caretakers ranks 464. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- No great distortion either way. Maine costs about what the country costs, so from $37,230, take-home of $30,846 is worth roughly $31,768 in national money. The average comes to $39,790, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Maine's median for animal caretakers is $37,230, about 5.29% above the national figure and 10 of 51 states reporting. Whether that premium reaches the worker depends on the two adjustments below, which is the part a wage table cannot tell you.
- Against every occupation Maine reports, animal caretakers ranks 464 of 484, in the lowest quartile of the state's distribution. That position is set by the local labor market and is independent of how the state compares nationally for this work.
- Price parity in Maine is near the national base, so for animal caretakers, whose median is $37,230, the adjusted figure of $31,768 differs little from $30,846 retained after tax. The state's position for this occupation is therefore set by wage and tax rather than by living costs. At $39,790 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Animal Caretakers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $31,360 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $37,230 |
| Top tenth earn over | $48,530 |
| This salary | $37,230 |
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 Maine | $30,846 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $32,094 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$1,260 |
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 | $35,676 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$1,523 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 97 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $37,230 as a midpoint for Maine, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $31,360 and the ninetieth is $48,530 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $30,846 take-home in Maine comes from $37,230. It is the no-frills case: single filer, standard deduction, nothing set aside before tax. Real circumstances almost always reduce the tax. City and school-district taxes are not counted at all. Locally the work ranks 464 of 484.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $31,768 uses one figure for the whole of Maine. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 484 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 464.
- The Maine median of $37,230 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $31,360 to $48,530. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Retained pay of $30,846, from $37,230, assumes a single Maine filer with the standard deduction and no elective deferrals. Pre-tax retirement or HSA contributions, dependants and itemized deductions all reduce it further; local income taxes, excluded here, would increase it in the states that levy them. This occupation ranks 464 of 484 locally, and the state ranks 10 of 51 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $31,768, worked from $37,230, deflates by a statewide parity that conceals substantial intra-state variation, concentrated in housing — so it supports comparison between states rather than the pricing of a move to a particular Maine address, on work sitting at 464 of 484 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
No — it is the middle. Half of these workers earn more and half earn less. The average is $39,790, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $31,360 at the tenth percentile, $48,530 at the ninetieth.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
A smaller wage in a cheaper place is not automatically less. Adjusted for local prices, this is worth $31,768.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Into four separate taxes, not one. Federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare apply everywhere, and Maine adds its own income tax on top — which is why $30,846 of this wage survives to your account.
Can I compare this job across every state?
This occupation is published everywhere — all 51 of them — so comparing states measures real differences rather than gaps in the data.
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 Maine is $39,790. 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 is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($31,360 to $48,530) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Maine rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Maine'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 $31,768 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 $30,846 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Maine 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.