Commercial Pilots in New York
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$122,543
after federal, FICA and New York tax
Tax takes
$54,887
30.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$113,860
New York costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in New York — 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
$177,430
Kept after tax
$122,543
Worth in national money
$113,860
State rank
3
of 48 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for commercial pilots is strong here. New York's middle earner gets $177,430, putting the state 3 of 48 — about 43.99% ahead of the national figure.
- Locally, this pays well. Among 493 occupations New York reports, commercial pilots comes in at 13 — comfortably in the upper quarter.
- The wage here flatters the reality. From $177,430 the take-home is $122,543. But New York costs more than the national average, so that money behaves more like $113,860 would elsewhere. Worth knowing before comparing offers across states. The average is higher, $184,580, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For commercial pilots, New York sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $177,430, ranking 3 of 48 and running about 43.99% 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.
- Commercial pilots ranks 13 of 493 occupations by median in New York, in the top quartile. Within-state position is largely independent of national position, so this holds regardless of how the state compares to others for the same work.
- Retained pay after federal, FICA and New York income tax is $122,543 for commercial pilots, from $177,430. The state's price level exceeds the national average, so the price-adjusted equivalent is $113,860. ⚠️ This is purchasing power and not a wage; cross-state offer comparisons that stop at the nominal figure systematically overvalue high-cost states. The mean of $184,580 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Commercial Pilots
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $63,080 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $177,430 |
| Top tenth earn over | $297,680 |
| This salary | $177,430 |
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 New York | $122,543 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $132,539 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$22,532 |
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 | $162,805 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$32,035 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 108 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $177,430 as a midpoint for New York, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $63,080 and the ninetieth is $297,680 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $122,543 take-home in New York comes from $177,430. 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 13 of 493.
- One number stands for prices across all of New York, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $113,860, the adjusted value of that $177,430 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 13 of 493 in the state.
- The New York median of $177,430 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $63,080 to $297,680. 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 $122,543, from $177,430, assumes a single New York 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 13 of 493 locally, and the state ranks 3 of 48 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for New York, so $113,860 — the adjusted value of that $177,430 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 13 of 493 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 $184,580 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?
The label is broader than the work. From $63,080 at the bottom tenth to $297,680 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
A larger wage in a dearer place is not automatically more. Adjusted for local prices, this pay behaves like $113,860 of national purchasing power.
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 New York's own levy, $122,543 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 48 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 New York is $184,580. 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 ($63,080) and the ninetieth ($297,680) 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.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
New York's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $113,860 in national-average terms. ⚠️ RPPs are an all-items index; housing parities vary far more widely than the headline figure.
What accounts for the gap between gross wage and take-home here?
Take-home of $122,543 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and New York 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 48 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.