Buyers and Purchasing Agents in Wisconsin
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$55,941
after federal, FICA and Wisconsin tax
Tax takes
$14,939
21.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$60,089
Wisconsin costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Wisconsin — 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
$70,880
Kept after tax
$55,941
Worth in national money
$60,089
State rank
41
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Wisconsin pays buyers and purchasing agents a middle wage of $70,880, 41 of 51 states and about 8.79% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 491 occupations Wisconsin reports figures for, this is number 168.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $70,880 you keep $55,941 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $60,089 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $74,450, since top earners drag the number up.
- Wisconsin's $70,880 median for buyers and purchasing agents places it 41 of 51 states, about 8.79% below national. Because both the tax and price adjustments tend to favor lower-nominal states, this ranking is the least stable of the three reported here.
- In Wisconsin's occupational distribution, buyers and purchasing agents sits at 168 of 491 — neither quartile. This local position is what a resident compares against, and it is determined by the state's own labor market rather than by national patterns for this occupation.
- Retained pay in Wisconsin is $55,941 after the full tax stack, from $70,880. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $60,089 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $74,450 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Buyers and Purchasing Agents
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $47,530 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $70,880 |
| Top tenth earn over | $102,720 |
| This salary | $70,880 |
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 Wisconsin | $55,941 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $58,694 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$312 |
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 | $66,966 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$430 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 93 |
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 buyers and purchasing agents in Wisconsin earn under $70,880 and half over. The published range runs $47,530 at the tenth percentile to $102,720 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 Wisconsin's $55,941, worked from $70,880. 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 168 of 491.
- One number stands for prices across all of Wisconsin, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $60,089, the adjusted value of that $70,880 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 168 of 491 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for buyers and purchasing agents in Wisconsin, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $47,530 to $102,720; 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 Wisconsin take-home of $55,941, on $70,880 for work ranking 168 of 491 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 168 of 491 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Wisconsin, so $60,089 — the adjusted value of that $70,880 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 168 of 491 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 $74,450, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
The label is broader than the work. From $47,530 at the bottom tenth to $102,720 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
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 $60,089.
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 Wisconsin adds its own income tax on top — which is why $55,941 of this wage survives to your account.
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 Wisconsin is $74,450. 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 drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($47,530) and the ninetieth ($102,720) 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?
Wisconsin'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 $60,089 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 $55,941 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Wisconsin 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.