Camera Operators, Television, Video, and Film in North Carolina
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$50,582
after federal, FICA and North Carolina tax
Tax takes
$12,138
19.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$53,731
North Carolina costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in North Carolina — 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
$62,720
Kept after tax
$50,582
Worth in national money
$53,731
State rank
14
of 46 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is strong here. North Carolina's middle earner gets $62,720, putting the state 14 of 46 — about 16.36% ahead of the national figure.
- Against other work in North Carolina, this sits in the middle: 182 of 489 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Here is where North Carolina does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $62,720 you keep $50,582, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $53,731 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $68,820, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For camera operators, television, video, and film, North Carolina sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $62,720, ranking 14 of 46 and running about 16.36% 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.
- Camera operators, television, video, and film ranks 182 of 489 occupations in North Carolina by median pay, in the middle bands. Within-state and national positions are separate measurements and a job commonly sits in different quartiles on each.
- After federal, FICA and North Carolina income tax, retained pay for camera operators, television, video, and film on $62,720 is $50,582. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $53,731 in national-average terms. ⚠️ That figure is purchasing power, not a wage, and nobody is paid it; it is what the take-home buys. The mean of $68,820 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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Pay band: Camera Operators, Television, Video, and Film
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $43,040 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $62,720 |
| Top tenth earn over | $85,710 |
| This salary | $62,720 |
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 North Carolina | $50,582 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $52,576 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$373 |
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 | $60,239 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$451 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 94 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $62,720 as a midpoint for North Carolina, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $43,040 and the ninetieth is $85,710 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $50,582 take-home in North Carolina comes from $62,720. 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 182 of 489.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $53,731 uses one figure for the whole of North Carolina. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 489 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 182.
- The North Carolina median of $62,720 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $43,040 to $85,710. 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 $50,582, from $62,720, assumes a single North Carolina 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 182 of 489 locally, and the state ranks 14 of 46 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $53,731, worked from $62,720, 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 North Carolina address, on work sitting at 182 of 489 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 $68,820, 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?
The range here is narrow. From $43,040 at the bottom tenth to $85,710 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
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 $53,731.
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; North Carolina then takes its own share, leaving $50,582.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 46 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release 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 North Carolina is $68,820. 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 ($43,040 to $85,710) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to North Carolina rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
North Carolina'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 $53,731 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 $50,582 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and North Carolina 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.