Cleaners of Vehicles and Equipment in North Carolina
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$28,246
after federal, FICA and North Carolina tax
Tax takes
$5,224
15.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$30,005
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
$33,470
Kept after tax
$28,246
Worth in national money
$30,005
State rank
42
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is on the low side in North Carolina. The middle earner gets $33,470. That is 42 of 51 states, and about 6.59% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Against 489 occupations North Carolina publishes, this job lands at 458. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Here is where North Carolina does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $33,470 you keep $28,246, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $30,005 would elsewhere. The average is lower, $32,980, so pay clusters nearer the top than usual.
- For cleaners of vehicles and equipment, North Carolina sits in the lower band at $33,470, ranking 42 of 51 and trailing the national median by about 6.59%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Within North Carolina, this work ranks 458 of 489 occupations by median pay, in the bottom quartile. The within-state position is the more salient one for anyone weighing this job against alternatives available to them locally.
- After federal, FICA and North Carolina income tax, retained pay for cleaners of vehicles and equipment on $33,470 is $28,246. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $30,005 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 $32,980 falls below the median, a left skew that is uncommon in wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Cleaners of Vehicles and Equipment
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $22,530 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $33,470 |
| Top tenth earn over | $44,520 |
| This salary | $33,470 |
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 | $28,246 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $29,073 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$87 |
The raise and the real gain point in opposite directions here.
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 | $32,441 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$105 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 94 |
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 cleaners of vehicles and equipment in North Carolina earn under $33,470 and half over. The published range runs $22,530 at the tenth percentile to $44,520 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $28,246 take-home in North Carolina comes from $33,470. 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 458 of 489.
- Two cautions on $30,005, the adjusted value of that $33,470 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of North Carolina. No actual address matches that. The wage figures and price figures are also from different years. Each is published on its own timetable. This work sits at 458 of 489 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for cleaners of vehicles and equipment in North Carolina, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $22,530 to $44,520; 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.
- Retained pay of $28,246, from $33,470, 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 458 of 489 locally, and the state ranks 42 of 51 for it.
- This $30,005 adjusted figure, worked from $33,470, rests on a state-level price parity averaging over within-state dispersion larger than much of the between-state dispersion. Wage and price vintages differ by publication schedule. The result is directionally sound and not address-specific, for work at 458 of 489 in the state. The occupation ranks 458 of 489 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $22,530 and the top tenth $44,520, so most people doing this work in North Carolina sit within a fairly tight band.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in North Carolina sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $30,005 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Into four separate taxes, not one. Federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare apply everywhere, and North Carolina adds its own income tax on top — which is why $28,246 of this wage survives to your account.
Can I compare this job across every state?
All 51 jurisdictions report this work, which makes the ranking a like-for-like one.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($22,530 to $44,520) 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 $30,005 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 $28,246 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.
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.