Carpenters in Pennsylvania
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$48,061
after federal, FICA and Pennsylvania tax
Tax takes
$11,309
19.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$49,293
Pennsylvania costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Pennsylvania — 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
$59,370
Kept after tax
$48,061
Worth in national money
$49,293
State rank
26
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pennsylvania sits in the middle of the pack for carpenters. The median is $59,370, ranking 26 of 51 states with figures. Close enough to the national middle that where you live matters more than the headline suggests.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. Carpenters ranks 240 among 492 occupations Pennsylvania publishes pay for.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $59,370, tax leaves $48,061, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $49,293 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $63,220, since top earners drag the number up.
- Pennsylvania occupies the middle band for carpenters: a median of $59,370, ranking 26 of 51. Where nominal pay is close to the national figure, the tax and price adjustments below carry proportionally more weight in determining the real outcome.
- Position 240 of 492 in Pennsylvania places carpenters 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 Pennsylvania sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for carpenters — median $59,370 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $48,061 retained, $49,293 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $63,220 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Carpenters
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $42,970 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $59,370 |
| Top tenth earn over | $92,110 |
| This salary | $59,370 |
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 Pennsylvania | $48,061 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $49,884 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$2,041 |
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 | $57,102 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$2,468 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 98 |
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 carpenters in Pennsylvania earn under $59,370 and half over. The published range runs $42,970 at the tenth percentile to $92,110 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In Pennsylvania the take-home figure of $48,061, from $59,370, 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 240 of 492 occupations here.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $49,293 uses one figure for the whole of Pennsylvania. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 492 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 240.
- Figures are distribution medians for carpenters in Pennsylvania, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $42,970 to $92,110; 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 Pennsylvania is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $48,061 from $59,370. 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 240 of 492 locally.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $49,293, worked from $59,370, 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 Pennsylvania address, on work sitting at 240 of 492 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $63,220, 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 $42,970 and the top tenth $92,110 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
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 $49,293.
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; Pennsylvania then takes its own share, leaving $48,061.
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 Pennsylvania is $63,220. 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 ($42,970) and the ninetieth ($92,110) 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?
Pennsylvania'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 $49,293 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 $48,061 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Pennsylvania 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.