Compliance Officers in Pennsylvania

May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$66,408
after federal, FICA and Pennsylvania tax
Tax takes
$19,172
22.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$68,111
Pennsylvania costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Pennsylvania — 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
$85,580
Kept after tax
$66,408
Worth in national money
$68,111
State rank
12
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pennsylvania is one of the better-paying states for compliance officers. The middle earner takes $85,580, which ranks 12 of 51 states with published figures. That is about 6.01% above the national middle.
- Locally, this pays well. Among 492 occupations Pennsylvania reports, compliance officers comes in at 97 — comfortably in the upper quarter.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $85,580 the take-home is $66,408, which is worth about $68,111 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is higher, $93,230, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Pennsylvania ranks 12 of 51 states publishing a median for compliance officers, at $85,580 — about 6.01% 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.
- Compliance officers ranks 97 of 492 occupations by median in Pennsylvania, 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.
- Pennsylvania's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for compliance officers on its $85,580 median: $66,408 retained after tax becomes $68,111 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $93,230 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Compliance Officers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $49,910 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $85,580 |
| Top tenth earn over | $130,990 |
| This salary | $85,580 |
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 Pennsylvania | $66,408 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $69,036 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$2,931 |
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 | $81,845 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$4,049 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 98 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $85,580 as a midpoint for Pennsylvania, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $49,910 and the ninetieth is $130,990 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $66,408 take-home in Pennsylvania comes from $85,580. 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 97 of 492.
- Two cautions on $68,111, the adjusted value of that $85,580 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Pennsylvania. 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 97 of 492 locally.
- The Pennsylvania median of $85,580 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $49,910 to $130,990. 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 $66,408, from $85,580, assumes a single Pennsylvania 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 97 of 492 locally, and the state ranks 12 of 51 for it.
- This $68,111 adjusted figure, worked from $85,580, 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 97 of 492 in the state. The occupation ranks 97 of 492 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 $93,230, 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 $49,910 at the bottom tenth to $130,990 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. Pennsylvania is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $68,111 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 Pennsylvania adds its own income tax on top — which is why $66,408 of this wage survives to your account.
Can I compare this job across every state?
All 51 jurisdictions report this work, which makes the ranking a like-for-like 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 Pennsylvania is $93,230. 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 ($49,910) and the ninetieth ($130,990) 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?
Pennsylvania'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 $68,111 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 $66,408 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Pennsylvania 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.
Is this occupation's state coverage complete?
State-level estimates are published for all 51 jurisdictions for this occupation, so cross-state comparison is not confounded by suppression. ⚠️ Estimates remain survey-based and carry sampling error; small differences between adjacent states should not be over-read.