Commercial Pilots in Vermont
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$98,369
after federal, FICA and Vermont tax
Tax takes
$39,441
28.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$101,795
Vermont costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Vermont — 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
$137,810
Kept after tax
$98,369
Worth in national money
$101,795
State rank
10
of 48 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Vermont is one of the better-paying states for commercial pilots. The middle earner takes $137,810, which ranks 10 of 48 states with published figures. That is about 11.84% above the national middle.
- Locally, this pays well. Among 453 occupations Vermont reports, commercial pilots comes in at 11 — comfortably in the upper quarter.
- Here is where Vermont does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $137,810 you keep $98,369, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $101,795 would elsewhere. The average is lower, $130,790, so pay clusters nearer the top than usual.
- Vermont ranks 10 of 48 states publishing a median for commercial pilots, at $137,810 — about 11.84% above the national median. A state's position on nominal pay is the figure wage tables report and the least informative of the three on this page, because it survives neither the tax adjustment nor the price adjustment intact for most occupations.
- Commercial pilots ranks 11 of 453 occupations by median in Vermont, 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.
- After federal, FICA and Vermont income tax, retained pay for commercial pilots on $137,810 is $98,369. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $101,795 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 $130,790 falls below the median, a left skew that is uncommon in wage data.
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Pay band: Commercial Pilots
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $56,820 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $137,810 |
| Top tenth earn over | $233,150 |
| This salary | $137,810 |
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 Vermont | $98,369 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $105,459 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$6,730 |
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 | $127,437 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$9,568 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 97 |
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 Vermont earn under $137,810 and half over. The published range runs $56,820 at the tenth percentile to $233,150 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Vermont's $98,369, worked from $137,810. 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 11 of 453.
- Two cautions on $101,795, the adjusted value of that $137,810 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Vermont. 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 11 of 453 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for commercial pilots in Vermont, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $56,820 to $233,150; 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.
- The Vermont take-home of $98,369, on $137,810 for work ranking 11 of 453 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 11 of 453 in the state.
- This $101,795 adjusted figure, worked from $137,810, 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 11 of 453 in the state. The occupation ranks 11 of 453 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $130,790, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
The label is broader than the work. From $56,820 at the bottom tenth to $233,150 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. Vermont is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $101,795 in national terms.
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 Vermont's own levy, $98,369 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 Vermont is $130,790. 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 ($56,820) and the ninetieth ($233,150) 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?
Vermont'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 $101,795 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 $98,369 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Vermont 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.