Automotive and Watercraft Service Attendants in Idaho
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$29,721
after federal, FICA and Idaho tax
Tax takes
$5,839
16.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$32,509
Idaho costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Idaho — 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
$35,560
Kept after tax
$29,721
Worth in national money
$32,509
State rank
28
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Idaho pays this job around $35,560 at the midpoint, 28 of 51 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Against 476 occupations Idaho publishes, this job lands at 434. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $35,560 you keep $29,721 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $32,509 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $37,190, since top earners drag the number up.
- For automotive and watercraft service attendants the Idaho median is $35,560, ranking 28 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 Idaho, this work ranks 434 of 476 occupations by median pay, in the bottom quartile. The within-state position is the more salient one for anyone weighing this job against alternatives available to them locally.
- Retained pay in Idaho is $29,721 after the full tax stack, from $35,560. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $32,509 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $37,190 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Automotive and Watercraft Service Attendants
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $31,200 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $35,560 |
| Top tenth earn over | $44,430 |
| This salary | $35,560 |
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 Idaho | $29,721 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $30,752 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$862 |
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 | $34,276 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,043 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 91 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $35,560 as a midpoint for Idaho, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $31,200 and the ninetieth is $44,430 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Idaho's $29,721, worked from $35,560. 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 434 of 476.
- One number stands for prices across all of Idaho, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $32,509, the adjusted value of that $35,560 median, as a way to compare states fairly, not as a quote for any particular place. The two datasets are also from different years. This job sits at 434 of 476 in the state.
- The Idaho median of $35,560 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $31,200 to $44,430. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- The Idaho take-home of $29,721, on $35,560 for work ranking 434 of 476 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 434 of 476 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Idaho, so $32,509 — the adjusted value of that $35,560 median — establishes comparability between states rather than accuracy within one. The wage and parity series are dated independently, each following its own publication cycle, and neither is projected forward. This occupation sits at 434 of 476 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 $37,190 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $31,200 at the tenth percentile, $44,430 at the ninetieth.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Idaho is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $32,509 in national terms.
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; Idaho then takes its own share, leaving $29,721.
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 Idaho is $37,190. 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 ($31,200 to $44,430) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Idaho rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Idaho'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 $32,509 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 $29,721 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Idaho 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.