Commercial Pilots in Oklahoma
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$92,332
after federal, FICA and Oklahoma tax
Tax takes
$33,848
26.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$104,583
Oklahoma costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Oklahoma — 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
$126,180
Kept after tax
$92,332
Worth in national money
$104,583
State rank
18
of 48 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Oklahoma sits in the middle of the pack for commercial pilots. The median is $126,180, ranking 18 of 48 states with figures. Close enough to the national middle that where you live matters more than the headline suggests.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in Oklahoma. It ranks 16 out of 492 occupations the state publishes figures for, which puts it in the top quarter locally.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $126,180 you keep $92,332 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $104,583 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $136,510, since top earners drag the number up.
- Oklahoma occupies the middle band for commercial pilots: a median of $126,180, ranking 18 of 48. Where nominal pay is close to the national figure, the tax and price adjustments below carry proportionally more weight in determining the real outcome.
- Within Oklahoma, commercial pilots ranks 16 of 492 occupations by median pay, placing it in the top quartile of the local distribution. This is the comparison a resident actually makes — against neighbors rather than against the same job elsewhere.
- Retained pay in Oklahoma is $92,332 after the full tax stack, from $126,180. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $104,583 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $136,510 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Commercial Pilots
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $75,880 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $126,180 |
| Top tenth earn over | $220,610 |
| This salary | $126,180 |
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 Oklahoma | $92,332 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $97,510 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$4,239 |
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 | $118,696 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$6,026 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 88 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Oklahoma earn less than $126,180. The published range is $75,880 up to $220,610, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- In Oklahoma the take-home figure of $92,332, from $126,180, 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 16 of 492 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $104,583, the adjusted value of that $126,180 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Oklahoma. 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 16 of 492 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for commercial pilots in Oklahoma the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $75,880 to $220,610. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Take-home for Oklahoma is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $92,332 from $126,180. 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 16 of 492 locally.
- This $104,583 adjusted figure, worked from $126,180, 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 16 of 492 in the state. The occupation ranks 16 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 $136,510 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 $75,880, the highest tenth $220,610, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in Oklahoma sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $104,583 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 Oklahoma adds its own income tax on top — which is why $92,332 of this wage survives to your account.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 48 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 Oklahoma is $136,510. 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 ($75,880) and the ninetieth ($220,610) 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?
Oklahoma'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 $104,583 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 $92,332 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Oklahoma 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.