Construction Laborers in Pennsylvania
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$40,356
after federal, FICA and Pennsylvania tax
Tax takes
$9,044
18.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$41,391
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
$49,400
Kept after tax
$40,356
Worth in national money
$41,391
State rank
21
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Pennsylvania pays construction laborers around $49,400 at the midpoint, 21 of 51 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 492 occupations Pennsylvania reports figures for, this is number 318.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $49,400, tax leaves $40,356, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $41,391 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $54,330, since top earners drag the number up.
- For construction laborers the Pennsylvania median is $49,400, ranking 21 of 51 states reporting. Mid-band nominal positions are the ones most frequently reordered by the adjustments, because no large wage premium exists to absorb a state's tax or price level.
- In Pennsylvania's occupational distribution, construction laborers sits at 318 of 492 — neither quartile. This local position is what a resident compares against, and it is determined by the state's own labor market rather than by national patterns for this occupation.
- Because Pennsylvania sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for construction laborers — median $49,400 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $40,356 retained, $41,391 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $54,330 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Construction Laborers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $37,480 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $49,400 |
| Top tenth earn over | $74,670 |
| This salary | $49,400 |
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 | $40,356 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $41,873 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$1,699 |
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 | $47,513 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$2,055 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 98 |
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 construction laborers in Pennsylvania earn under $49,400 and half over. The published range runs $37,480 at the tenth percentile to $74,670 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $40,356 take-home in Pennsylvania comes from $49,400. 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 318 of 492.
- One number stands for prices across all of Pennsylvania, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $41,391, the adjusted value of that $49,400 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 318 of 492 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for construction laborers in Pennsylvania, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $37,480 to $74,670; 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.
- Retained pay of $40,356, from $49,400, 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 318 of 492 locally, and the state ranks 21 of 51 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Pennsylvania, so $41,391 — the adjusted value of that $49,400 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 318 of 492 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $54,330, 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 $37,480 at the bottom tenth to $74,670 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
A smaller wage in a cheaper place is not automatically less. Adjusted for local prices, this is worth $41,391.
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 Pennsylvania's own levy, $40,356 remains.
Can I compare this job across every state?
Yes for this one. Pay is published in all 51 jurisdictions, so a state-to-state comparison here rests on the same survey everywhere rather than on a patchwork.
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 $54,330. 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 ($37,480) and the ninetieth ($74,670) 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 $41,391 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 $40,356 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.