Chemical Technicians in Pennsylvania
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$48,100
after federal, FICA and Pennsylvania tax
Tax takes
$11,320
19.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$49,333
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
$59,420
Kept after tax
$48,100
Worth in national money
$49,333
State rank
25
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pennsylvania sits in the middle of the pack for chemical technicians. The median is $59,420, ranking 25 of 51 states with figures. Close enough to the national middle that where you live matters more than the headline suggests.
- Against other work in Pennsylvania, this sits in the middle: 239 of 492 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $59,420 the take-home is $48,100, which is worth about $49,333 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is higher, $62,260, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Pennsylvania occupies the middle band for chemical technicians: a median of $59,420, ranking 25 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.
- Chemical technicians ranks 239 of 492 occupations in Pennsylvania 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.
- Pennsylvania's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for chemical technicians on its $59,420 median: $48,100 retained after tax becomes $49,333 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $62,260 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Chemical Technicians
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $41,090 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $59,420 |
| Top tenth earn over | $85,890 |
| This salary | $59,420 |
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 | $48,100 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $49,924 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$2,042 |
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 | $57,150 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$2,470 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 98 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $59,420 as a midpoint for Pennsylvania, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $41,090 and the ninetieth is $85,890 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $48,100 take-home in Pennsylvania comes from $59,420. 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 239 of 492.
- One number stands for prices across all of Pennsylvania, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $49,333, the adjusted value of that $59,420 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 239 of 492 in the state.
- The Pennsylvania median of $59,420 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $41,090 to $85,890. 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 $48,100, from $59,420, assumes a single Pennsylvania 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 239 of 492 locally, and the state ranks 25 of 51 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Pennsylvania, so $49,333 — the adjusted value of that $59,420 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 239 of 492 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 $62,260 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $41,090, the highest tenth $85,890, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
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 $49,333.
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 $48,100.
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 $62,260. 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 ($41,090) and the ninetieth ($85,890) 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 $49,333 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 $48,100 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.