Commercial Pilots in Utah
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$74,473
after federal, FICA and Utah tax
Tax takes
$25,137
25.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$78,391
Utah costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Utah — 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
$99,610
Kept after tax
$74,473
Worth in national money
$78,391
State rank
42
of 48 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Utah pays commercial pilots a middle wage of $99,610, 42 of 48 states and about 19.16% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Locally, this pays well. Among 487 occupations Utah reports, commercial pilots comes in at 66 — comfortably in the upper quarter.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $99,610 you keep $74,473 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $78,391 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $115,970, since top earners drag the number up.
- Utah's $99,610 median for commercial pilots places it 42 of 48 states, about 19.16% below national. Because both the tax and price adjustments tend to favor lower-nominal states, this ranking is the least stable of the three reported here.
- Commercial pilots ranks 66 of 487 occupations by median in Utah, 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 in Utah is $74,473 after the full tax stack, from $99,610. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $78,391 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $115,970 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Commercial Pilots
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $60,060 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $99,610 |
| Top tenth earn over | $175,000 |
| This salary | $99,610 |
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 Utah | $74,473 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $78,906 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$2,809 |
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 | $93,309 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$3,879 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 95 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $99,610 as a midpoint for Utah, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $60,060 and the ninetieth is $175,000 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Utah's $74,473, worked from $99,610. That is on purpose. It lets states be compared with each other, not with each other's family circumstances. Local city taxes are left out. Locally this work ranks 66 of 487.
- One number stands for prices across all of Utah, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $78,391, the adjusted value of that $99,610 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 66 of 487 in the state.
- The Utah median of $99,610 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $60,060 to $175,000. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- The Utah take-home of $74,473, on $99,610 for work ranking 66 of 487 locally, models the simplest household deliberately: holding it constant is what makes the interstate comparison meaningful. It also means the absolute figure overstates liability for most real filers, and municipal income taxes are outside the model entirely. The occupation ranks 66 of 487 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Utah, so $78,391 — the adjusted value of that $99,610 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 66 of 487 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
No — it is the middle. Half of these workers earn more and half earn less. The average is $115,970, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
The label is broader than the work. From $60,060 at the bottom tenth to $175,000 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Utah is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $78,391 in national terms.
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 Utah adds its own income tax on top — which is why $74,473 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 Utah is $115,970. 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 ($60,060) and the ninetieth ($175,000) 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?
Utah'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 $78,391 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 $74,473 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Utah 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.