Civil Engineering Technologists and Technicians in Pennsylvania
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$51,369
after federal, FICA and Pennsylvania tax
Tax takes
$12,281
19.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$52,686
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
$63,650
Kept after tax
$51,369
Worth in national money
$52,686
State rank
25
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pennsylvania sits in the middle of the pack for this job. The median is $63,650, ranking 25 of 50 states with figures. Close enough to the national middle that where you live matters more than the headline suggests.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 201 among 492 occupations Pennsylvania publishes pay for.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $63,650, tax leaves $51,369, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $52,686 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $66,570, since top earners drag the number up.
- Pennsylvania occupies the middle band for civil engineering technologists and technicians: a median of $63,650, ranking 25 of 50. 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 201 of 492 in Pennsylvania places civil engineering technologists and technicians 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 civil engineering technologists and technicians — median $63,650 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $51,369 retained, $52,686 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $66,570 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Civil Engineering Technologists and Technicians
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $47,740 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $63,650 |
| Top tenth earn over | $83,840 |
| This salary | $63,650 |
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 | $51,369 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $53,323 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$2,187 |
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 | $61,218 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$2,645 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 98 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $63,650 as a midpoint for Pennsylvania, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $47,740 and the ninetieth is $83,840 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $51,369 take-home in Pennsylvania comes from $63,650. 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 201 of 492.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $52,686 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 201.
- The Pennsylvania median of $63,650 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $47,740 to $83,840. 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 $51,369, from $63,650, 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 201 of 492 locally, and the state ranks 25 of 50 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $52,686, worked from $63,650, 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 201 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 $66,570 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $47,740 and the top tenth $83,840, so most people doing this work in Pennsylvania sit within a fairly tight band.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in Pennsylvania sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $52,686 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Three of them are federal and one is not. After income tax, Social Security, Medicare and Pennsylvania's own levy, $51,369 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 50 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 Pennsylvania is $66,570. 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 ($47,740 to $83,840) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Pennsylvania rather than a national figure.
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 $52,686 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 $51,369 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.
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 50 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.