Art Directors in Hawaii
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$66,309
after federal, FICA and Hawaii tax
Tax takes
$22,991
25.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$61,053
Hawaii costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Hawaii — 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
$89,300
Kept after tax
$66,309
Worth in national money
$61,053
State rank
25
of 46 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. Hawaii is 25 of 46 states for art directors, with a middle wage of $89,300. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in Hawaii. It ranks 105 out of 437 occupations the state publishes figures for, which puts it in the top quarter locally.
- Hawaii is an expensive state, and the adjusted figure shows it. From $89,300 the take-home is $66,309; in national-average money that behaves like $61,053. The average comes to $91,610, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Hawaii ranks 25 of 46 for art directors at $89,300. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- Within Hawaii, art directors ranks 105 of 437 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.
- Take-home for art directors in Hawaii, on $89,300, is $66,309; deflated by the state's price level, $61,053. ⚠️ The deflator is statewide, so it understates the erosion in the state's metropolitan areas and overstates it outside them. At $91,610 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Art Directors
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $48,920 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $89,300 |
| Top tenth earn over | $154,410 |
| This salary | $89,300 |
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 Hawaii | $66,309 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $71,653 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$12,683 |
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 | $81,704 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$17,519 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 109 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Hawaii earn less than $89,300. The published range is $48,920 up to $154,410, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- In Hawaii the take-home figure of $66,309, from $89,300, 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 105 of 437 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $61,053, the adjusted value of that $89,300 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Hawaii. 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 105 of 437 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for art directors in Hawaii the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $48,920 to $154,410. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Take-home for Hawaii is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $66,309 from $89,300. 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 105 of 437 locally.
- This $61,053 adjusted figure, worked from $89,300, 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 105 of 437 in the state. The occupation ranks 105 of 437 locally.
Questions people ask
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $48,920, the highest tenth $154,410, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
Not on its own. Prices in Hawaii run above the national level, so the same dollars buy less here. Adjusted for that, this pay is worth $61,053 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.
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 Hawaii adds its own income tax on top — which is why $66,309 of this wage survives to your account.
Why is this job missing from some states?
Because the survey suppresses a figure when too few employers report it. This occupation has published pay in 46 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
What drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($48,920) and the ninetieth ($154,410) 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.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
Hawaii's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $61,053 in national-average terms. ⚠️ RPPs are an all-items index; housing parities vary far more widely than the headline figure.
What accounts for the gap between gross wage and take-home here?
Take-home of $66,309 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Hawaii 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.
Why does this occupation lack published estimates in every state?
BLS suppresses estimates failing disclosure or reliability criteria. This occupation has published state-level estimates in 46 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.