Camera Operators, Television, Video, and Film in New York
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$70,073
after federal, FICA and New York tax
Tax takes
$23,337
25.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$65,108
New York costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in New York — 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
$93,410
Kept after tax
$70,073
Worth in national money
$65,108
State rank
4
of 46 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is strong here. New York's middle earner gets $93,410, putting the state 4 of 46 — about 24.56% ahead of the national figure.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 139 among 493 occupations New York publishes pay for.
- New York is an expensive state, and the adjusted figure shows it. From $93,410 the take-home is $70,073; in national-average money that behaves like $65,108. The average comes to $99,080, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For camera operators, television, video, and film, New York sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $93,410, ranking 4 of 46 and running about 24.56% 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 139 of 493 in New York 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.
- Take-home for camera operators, television, video, and film in New York, on $93,410, is $70,073; deflated by the state's price level, $65,108. ⚠️ The deflator is statewide, so it understates the erosion in the state's metropolitan areas and overstates it outside them. At $99,080 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Camera Operators, Television, Video, and Film
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $56,710 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $93,410 |
| Top tenth earn over | $133,410 |
| This salary | $93,410 |
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 New York | $70,073 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $74,544 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$11,603 |
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 | $87,055 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$16,028 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 108 |
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 New York earn under $93,410 and half over. The published range runs $56,710 at the tenth percentile to $133,410 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In New York the take-home figure of $70,073, from $93,410, 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 139 of 493 occupations here.
- One number stands for prices across all of New York, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $65,108, the adjusted value of that $93,410 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 139 of 493 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for camera operators, television, video, and film in New York, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $56,710 to $133,410; 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 New York is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $70,073 from $93,410. 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 139 of 493 locally.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for New York, so $65,108 — the adjusted value of that $93,410 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 139 of 493 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 $99,080, 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?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $56,710 and the top tenth $133,410 — 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 $65,108 of national purchasing power.
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; New York then takes its own share, leaving $70,073.
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 New York is $99,080. 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 ($56,710) and the ninetieth ($133,410) 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?
New York's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $65,108 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 $70,073 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and New York 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.