Art Directors in Maine
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$73,862
after federal, FICA and Maine tax
Tax takes
$26,438
26.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$76,070
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
$100,300
Kept after tax
$73,862
Worth in national money
$76,070
State rank
16
of 46 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. Maine is 16 of 46 states for art directors, with a middle wage of $100,300. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- Within Maine this is well-paid work. Of 484 occupations with published figures in the state, art directors ranks 56 — in the top quarter of everything people do there.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $100,300 the take-home is $73,862, which is worth about $76,070 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is higher, $102,820, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Maine ranks 16 of 46 for art directors at $100,300. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- Ranked against every occupation Maine publishes a median for, art directors sits 56 of 484 — the upper quartile of the state's wage distribution. National standing and within-state standing are separate questions, and a job can occupy very different positions on each.
- Maine's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for art directors on its $100,300 median: $73,862 retained after tax becomes $76,070 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $102,820 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Art Directors
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $39,950 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $100,300 |
| Top tenth earn over | $161,030 |
| This salary | $100,300 |
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 Maine | $73,862 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $79,391 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$5,629 |
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 | $92,440 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$7,775 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 97 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- A median is the middle, not an offer. Half of art directors in Maine earn under $100,300 and half over. The published range runs $39,950 at the tenth percentile to $161,030 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Maine's $73,862, worked from $100,300. That is on purpose. It lets states be compared with each other, not with each other's family circumstances. Local city taxes are left out. Locally this work ranks 56 of 484.
- Two cautions on $76,070, the adjusted value of that $100,300 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Maine. 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 56 of 484 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for art directors in Maine, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $39,950 to $161,030; within-state dispersion of that width routinely exceeds the dispersion between states, so tenure, employer and metropolitan area predict an individual's pay better than geography does.
- The Maine take-home of $73,862, on $100,300 for work ranking 56 of 484 locally, models the simplest household deliberately: holding it constant is what makes the interstate comparison meaningful. It also means the absolute figure overstates liability for most real filers, and municipal income taxes are outside the model entirely. The occupation ranks 56 of 484 in the state.
- This $76,070 adjusted figure, worked from $100,300, 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 56 of 484 in the state. The occupation ranks 56 of 484 locally.
Questions people ask
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $39,950 and the top tenth $161,030 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
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 $76,070.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Three of them are federal and one is not. After income tax, Social Security, Medicare and Maine's own levy, $73,862 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 46 states here, and a missing state means too few reports, not no jobs.
What drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($39,950) and the ninetieth ($161,030) 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?
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 $76,070 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 $73,862 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.
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.