Automotive and Watercraft Service Attendants in Pennsylvania
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$26,562
after federal, FICA and Pennsylvania tax
Tax takes
$4,988
15.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$27,243
Pennsylvania costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Pennsylvania — 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
$31,550
Kept after tax
$26,562
Worth in national money
$27,243
State rank
41
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pennsylvania is among the lower-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $31,550, ranking 41 of 51 states — about 11.55% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
- Measured against other jobs in Pennsylvania, this one sits low: 471 of 492 occupations with published pay, in the bottom quarter.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $31,550, tax leaves $26,562, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $27,243 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $33,660, since top earners drag the number up.
- Pennsylvania ranks 41 of 51 for automotive and watercraft service attendants, with a median of $31,550 — about 11.55% below the national figure. A nominal shortfall is not by itself a real one: lower-paying states frequently carry lower tax and lower price levels, and the adjusted figures below are where that is settled rather than assumed.
- Automotive and watercraft service attendants occupies position 471 of 492 in Pennsylvania's occupational wage distribution, in the bottom quartile. National ranking and local ranking answer different questions and frequently disagree; this is the one a resident experiences.
- Because Pennsylvania sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for automotive and watercraft service attendants — median $31,550 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $26,562 retained, $27,243 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $33,660 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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 | $23,130 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $31,550 |
| Top tenth earn over | $45,490 |
| This salary | $31,550 |
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 Pennsylvania | $26,562 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $27,530 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$1,088 |
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 | $30,345 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$1,316 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 98 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $31,550 as a midpoint for Pennsylvania, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $23,130 and the ninetieth is $45,490 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $26,562 take-home in Pennsylvania comes from $31,550. 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 471 of 492.
- One number stands for prices across all of Pennsylvania, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $27,243, the adjusted value of that $31,550 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 471 of 492 in the state.
- The Pennsylvania median of $31,550 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $23,130 to $45,490. 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 $26,562, from $31,550, assumes a single Pennsylvania 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 471 of 492 locally, and the state ranks 41 of 51 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Pennsylvania, so $27,243 — the adjusted value of that $31,550 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 471 of 492 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 $33,660, 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?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $23,130 and the top tenth $45,490, so most people doing this work in Pennsylvania sit within a fairly tight band.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Pennsylvania is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $27,243 in national terms.
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 Pennsylvania adds its own income tax on top — which is why $26,562 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 Pennsylvania is $33,660. 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 ($23,130 to $45,490) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Pennsylvania rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Pennsylvania'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 $27,243 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 $26,562 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Pennsylvania 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.