Camera Operators, Television, Video, and Film in Alaska
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$67,657
after federal, FICA and Alaska tax
Tax takes
$15,963
19.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$66,516
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
$83,620
Kept after tax
$67,657
Worth in national money
$66,516
State rank
6
of 46 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is strong here. Alaska's middle earner gets $83,620, putting the state 6 of 46 — about 11.51% ahead of the national figure.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 128 among 430 occupations Alaska publishes pay for.
- No great distortion either way. Alaska costs about what the country costs, so from $83,620, take-home of $67,657 is worth roughly $66,516 in national money. The average lands at $69,770, below the middle of the range.
- For camera operators, television, video, and film, Alaska sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $83,620, ranking 6 of 46 and running about 11.51% 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.
- Position 128 of 430 in Alaska places camera operators, television, video, and film in the middle of the state's wage distribution. Because within-state and cross-state rankings measure different things, this figure and the national one above should be read together rather than as a single verdict.
- Price parity in Alaska is near the national base, so for camera operators, television, video, and film, whose median is $83,620, the adjusted figure of $66,516 differs little from $67,657 retained after tax. The state's position for this occupation is therefore set by wage and tax rather than by living costs. At $69,770 the mean undershoots the median, an inversion of the usual skew.
Compare this career across states
Choose your filing status and local taxes, compare pay, and keep a shortlist.Compare wage and personal-pay outcomes by state, with selected resident local taxes and saved career choices.
Pay band: Camera Operators, Television, Video, and Film
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $43,140 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $83,620 |
| Top tenth earn over | $83,630 |
| This salary | $83,620 |
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 | $67,657 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $67,657 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$3,108 |
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 | $83,620 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$4,293 |
| 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 camera operators, television, video, and film in Alaska earn under $83,620 and half over. The published range runs $43,140 at the tenth percentile to $83,630 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 Alaska's $67,657, worked from $83,620. 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 128 of 430.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $66,516 uses one figure for the whole of Alaska. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 430 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 128.
- Figures are distribution medians for camera operators, television, video, and film in Alaska, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $43,140 to $83,630; 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 Alaska take-home of $67,657, on $83,620 for work ranking 128 of 430 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 128 of 430 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $66,516, worked from $83,620, deflates by a statewide parity that conceals substantial intra-state variation, concentrated in housing — so it supports comparison between states rather than the pricing of a move to a particular Alaska address, on work sitting at 128 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 $69,770 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 $43,140 at the bottom tenth to $83,630 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 $66,516 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Less than people assume. $67,657 of this wage reaches your account, because Alaska takes no income tax from wages — but federal tax, Social Security and Medicare still apply exactly as they do everywhere else.
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.
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 $69,770. 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 ($43,140 to $83,630) 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 $66,516 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 $67,657 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.
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.