Correctional Officers and Jailers in Wisconsin
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$57,609
after federal, FICA and Wisconsin tax
Tax takes
$15,861
21.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$61,881
Wisconsin costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Wisconsin — 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
$73,470
Kept after tax
$57,609
Worth in national money
$61,881
State rank
9
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is strong here. Wisconsin's middle earner gets $73,470, putting the state 9 of 49 — about 24.65% ahead of the national figure.
- Against other work in Wisconsin, this sits in the middle: 162 of 491 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $73,470 you keep $57,609 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $61,881 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $73,690, since top earners drag the number up.
- For correctional officers and jailers, Wisconsin sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $73,470, ranking 9 of 49 and running about 24.65% above the national midpoint. Nominal advantage of this size is usually, though not always, large enough to survive the state's own tax and price levels.
- Correctional officers and jailers ranks 162 of 491 occupations in Wisconsin by median pay, in the middle bands. Within-state and national positions are separate measurements and a job commonly sits in different quartiles on each.
- Retained pay in Wisconsin is $57,609 after the full tax stack, from $73,470. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $61,881 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $73,690 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Correctional Officers and Jailers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $56,540 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $73,470 |
| Top tenth earn over | $92,140 |
| This salary | $73,470 |
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 Wisconsin | $57,609 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $60,516 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$395 |
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 | $69,338 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$545 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 93 |
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 correctional officers and jailers in Wisconsin earn under $73,470 and half over. The published range runs $56,540 at the tenth percentile to $92,140 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 Wisconsin's $57,609, worked from $73,470. 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 162 of 491.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $61,881 uses one figure for the whole of Wisconsin. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 491 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 162.
- Figures are distribution medians for correctional officers and jailers in Wisconsin, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $56,540 to $92,140; 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 Wisconsin take-home of $57,609, on $73,470 for work ranking 162 of 491 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 162 of 491 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $61,881, worked from $73,470, deflates by a statewide parity that conceals substantial intra-state variation, concentrated in housing — so it supports comparison between states rather than the pricing of a move to a particular Wisconsin address, on work sitting at 162 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $56,540 and the top tenth $92,140, so most people doing this work in Wisconsin sit within a fairly tight band.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in Wisconsin sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $61,881 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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 Wisconsin's own levy, $57,609 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 49 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($56,540 to $92,140) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Wisconsin rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Wisconsin'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 $61,881 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 $57,609 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Wisconsin 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 49 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.