Camera Operators, Television, Video, and Film in Arizona
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$55,540
after federal, FICA and Arizona tax
Tax takes
$12,710
18.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$54,933
Arizona costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Arizona — 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
$68,250
Kept after tax
$55,540
Worth in national money
$54,933
State rank
9
of 46 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is strong here. Arizona's middle earner gets $68,250, putting the state 9 of 46 — about 8.99% ahead of the national figure.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 163 among 491 occupations Arizona publishes pay for.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $68,250, tax leaves $55,540, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $54,933 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $94,680, since top earners drag the number up.
- For camera operators, television, video, and film, Arizona sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $68,250, ranking 9 of 46 and running about 8.99% 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 163 of 491 in Arizona 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.
- Because Arizona sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for camera operators, television, video, and film — median $68,250 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $55,540 retained, $54,933 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $94,680 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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 | $38,520 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $68,250 |
| Top tenth earn over | $162,960 |
| This salary | $68,250 |
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 Arizona | $55,540 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $56,844 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$3,563 |
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 | $66,410 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$4,527 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 101 |
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 Arizona earn under $68,250 and half over. The published range runs $38,520 at the tenth percentile to $162,960 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In Arizona the take-home figure of $55,540, from $68,250, 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 163 of 491 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $54,933, the adjusted value of that $68,250 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Arizona. 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 163 of 491 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for camera operators, television, video, and film in Arizona, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $38,520 to $162,960; 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 Arizona is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $55,540 from $68,250. 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 163 of 491 locally.
- This $54,933 adjusted figure, worked from $68,250, 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 163 of 491 in the state. The occupation ranks 163 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $94,680, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $38,520 and the top tenth $162,960 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
A larger wage in a dearer place is not automatically more. Adjusted for local prices, this pay behaves like $54,933 of national purchasing power.
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 Arizona adds its own income tax on top — which is why $55,540 of this wage survives to your account.
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 Arizona is $94,680. 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 ($38,520) and the ninetieth ($162,960) 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.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
Arizona's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $54,933 in national-average terms. ⚠️ RPPs are an all-items index; housing parities vary far more widely than the headline figure.
What accounts for the gap between gross wage and take-home here?
Take-home of $55,540 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Arizona 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.
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.