Cost Estimators in Pennsylvania
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$61,631
after federal, FICA and Pennsylvania tax
Tax takes
$16,849
21.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$63,212
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
$78,480
Kept after tax
$61,631
Worth in national money
$63,212
State rank
24
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pennsylvania sits in the middle of the pack for cost estimators. The median is $78,480, ranking 24 of 51 states with figures. Close enough to the national middle that where you live matters more than the headline suggests.
- Against other work in Pennsylvania, this sits in the middle: 129 of 492 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $78,480, tax leaves $61,631, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $63,212 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $83,890, since top earners drag the number up.
- Pennsylvania occupies the middle band for cost estimators: a median of $78,480, ranking 24 of 51. Where nominal pay is close to the national figure, the tax and price adjustments below carry proportionally more weight in determining the real outcome.
- Cost estimators ranks 129 of 492 occupations in Pennsylvania 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.
- Because Pennsylvania sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for cost estimators — median $78,480 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $61,631 retained, $63,212 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $83,890 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Cost Estimators
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $49,570 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $78,480 |
| Top tenth earn over | $126,620 |
| This salary | $78,480 |
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 | $61,631 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $64,041 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$2,691 |
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 | $75,055 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$3,717 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 98 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Pennsylvania earn less than $78,480. The published range is $49,570 up to $126,620, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Pennsylvania's $61,631, worked from $78,480. 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 129 of 492.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $63,212 uses one figure for the whole of Pennsylvania. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 492 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 129.
- Reported values are medians; for cost estimators in Pennsylvania the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $49,570 to $126,620. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The Pennsylvania take-home of $61,631, on $78,480 for work ranking 129 of 492 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 129 of 492 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $63,212, worked from $78,480, 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 Pennsylvania address, on work sitting at 129 of 492 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
Half earn more than this and half earn less. The average sits at $83,890 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $49,570, the highest tenth $126,620, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
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 $63,212.
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 $61,631 of this wage survives to your account.
Can I compare this job across every state?
This occupation is published everywhere — all 51 of them — so comparing states measures real differences rather than gaps in the data.
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 $83,890. 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 ($49,570) and the ninetieth ($126,620) 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 $63,212 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 $61,631 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.