Commercial Pilots in North Carolina
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$93,711
after federal, FICA and North Carolina tax
Tax takes
$33,599
26.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$99,546
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
$127,310
Kept after tax
$93,711
Worth in national money
$99,546
State rank
16
of 48 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for commercial pilots is strong here. North Carolina's middle earner gets $127,310, putting the state 16 of 48 — about 3.32% ahead of the national figure.
- Within North Carolina this is well-paid work. Of 489 occupations with published figures in the state, commercial pilots ranks 29 — in the top quarter of everything people do there.
- North Carolina is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $127,310 the take-home is $93,711; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $99,546 would nationally. The average comes to $138,680, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For commercial pilots, North Carolina sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $127,310, ranking 16 of 48 and running about 3.32% 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.
- Ranked against every occupation North Carolina publishes a median for, commercial pilots sits 29 of 489 — the upper quartile of the state's wage distribution. National standing and within-state standing are separate questions, and a job can occupy very different positions on each.
- Post-tax income for commercial pilots in North Carolina, on $127,310, is $93,711 — equivalent to $99,546 once regional price parity is applied. ⚠️ The adjustment uses a statewide index that describes no particular address; within-state price variation, concentrated in housing, routinely exceeds the difference between two states. At $138,680 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
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Pay band: Commercial Pilots
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $61,050 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $127,310 |
| Top tenth earn over | $243,090 |
| This salary | $127,310 |
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 | $93,711 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $98,282 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$1,594 |
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 | $120,656 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$2,266 |
| 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 commercial pilots in North Carolina earn under $127,310 and half over. The published range runs $61,050 at the tenth percentile to $243,090 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In North Carolina the take-home figure of $93,711, from $127,310, 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 29 of 489 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $99,546, the adjusted value of that $127,310 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 29 of 489 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for commercial pilots in North Carolina, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $61,050 to $243,090; 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 North Carolina is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $93,711 from $127,310. 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 29 of 489 locally.
- This $99,546 adjusted figure, worked from $127,310, 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 29 of 489 in the state. The occupation ranks 29 of 489 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 $138,680 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?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $61,050 and the top tenth $243,090 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
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 $99,546 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 North Carolina's own levy, $93,711 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
Because the survey suppresses a figure when too few employers report it. This occupation has published pay in 48 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
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 North Carolina is $138,680. 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 ($61,050) and the ninetieth ($243,090) 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?
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 $99,546 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 $93,711 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.
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.