Automotive and Watercraft Service Attendants in Alaska
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$35,598
after federal, FICA and Alaska tax
Tax takes
$5,992
14.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$34,997
Alaska costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Alaska — 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
$41,590
Kept after tax
$35,598
Worth in national money
$34,997
State rank
6
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is strong here. Alaska's middle earner gets $41,590, putting the state 6 of 51 — about 16.6% ahead of the national figure.
- Within Alaska this is lower-paid work. Of 430 occupations the state publishes figures for, this job ranks 383. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- No great distortion either way. Alaska costs about what the country costs, so from $41,590, take-home of $35,598 is worth roughly $34,997 in national money. The average comes to $42,920, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For automotive and watercraft service attendants, Alaska sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $41,590, ranking 6 of 51 and running about 16.6% above the national midpoint. Nominal advantage of this size is usually, though not always, large enough to survive the state's own tax and price levels.
- Against every occupation Alaska reports, automotive and watercraft service attendants ranks 383 of 430, 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 Alaska is near the national base, so for automotive and watercraft service attendants, whose median is $41,590, the adjusted figure of $34,997 differs little from $35,598 retained after tax. The state's position for this occupation is therefore set by wage and tax rather than by living costs. At $42,920 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Automotive and Watercraft Service Attendants
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $32,620 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $41,590 |
| Top tenth earn over | $60,330 |
| This salary | $41,590 |
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 Alaska | $35,598 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $35,598 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$1,635 |
The raise and the real gain point in opposite directions here.
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 | $41,590 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$1,977 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 102 |
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 automotive and watercraft service attendants in Alaska earn under $41,590 and half over. The published range runs $32,620 at the tenth percentile to $60,330 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In Alaska the take-home figure of $35,598, from $41,590, 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 383 of 430 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $34,997, the adjusted value of that $41,590 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Alaska. 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 383 of 430 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for automotive and watercraft service attendants in Alaska, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $32,620 to $60,330; 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.
- Take-home for Alaska is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $35,598 from $41,590. 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 383 of 430 locally.
- This $34,997 adjusted figure, worked from $41,590, 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 383 of 430 in the state. The occupation ranks 383 of 430 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
Half earn more than this and half earn less. The average sits at $42,920 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $32,620 at the bottom tenth to $60,330 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
Not on its own. Prices in Alaska run above the national level, so the same dollars buy less here. Adjusted for that, this pay is worth $34,997 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
No. $35,598 survives, because Alaska levies no wage income tax. The federal share does not change with the state you work in.
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 Alaska is $42,920. 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 ($32,620 to $60,330) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Alaska rather than a national figure.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
Alaska's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $34,997 in national-average terms. ⚠️ RPPs are an all-items index; housing parities vary far more widely than the headline figure.
Why is the take-home ratio comparatively high in this state?
Alaska levies no personal income tax on wages, so take-home of $35,598 reflects the federal layer and FICA alone. Federal income tax and FICA are unchanged; states without a wage income tax generally recover revenue through consumption and property bases instead.
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.