Couriers and Messengers in Connecticut
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$32,601
after federal, FICA and Connecticut tax
Tax takes
$6,879
17.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$31,441
Connecticut costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Connecticut — 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
$39,480
Kept after tax
$32,601
Worth in national money
$31,441
State rank
19
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. Connecticut is 19 of 51 states for couriers and messengers, with a middle wage of $39,480. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- Within Connecticut this is lower-paid work. Of 482 occupations the state publishes figures for, couriers and messengers ranks 423. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Costs eat into it here. Of $39,480, tax leaves $32,601 — and because Connecticut is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $31,441 would nationally. Averages run higher here, $42,890, since top earners drag the number up.
- Connecticut ranks 19 of 51 for couriers and messengers at $39,480. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- Against every occupation Connecticut reports, couriers and messengers ranks 423 of 482, in the lowest quartile of the state's distribution. That position is set by the local labor market and is independent of how the state compares nationally for this work.
- After tax, $32,601 remains from the Connecticut median of $39,480 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $31,441 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $42,890 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Couriers and Messengers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $35,300 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $39,480 |
| Top tenth earn over | $54,980 |
| This salary | $39,480 |
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 Connecticut | $32,601 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $33,902 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$3,447 |
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 | $37,860 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$4,169 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 104 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $39,480 as a midpoint for Connecticut, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $35,300 and the ninetieth is $54,980 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $32,601 take-home in Connecticut comes from $39,480. 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 423 of 482.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $31,441 uses one figure for the whole of Connecticut. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 482 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 423.
- The Connecticut median of $39,480 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $35,300 to $54,980. 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 $32,601, from $39,480, assumes a single Connecticut 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 423 of 482 locally, and the state ranks 19 of 51 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $31,441, worked from $39,480, 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 Connecticut address, on work sitting at 423 of 482 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 $42,890, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $35,300 at the bottom tenth to $54,980 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
A larger wage in a dearer place is not automatically more. Adjusted for local prices, this pay behaves like $31,441 of national purchasing power.
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 Connecticut adds its own income tax on top — which is why $32,601 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 Connecticut is $42,890. 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 is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($35,300 to $54,980) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Connecticut rather than a national figure.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
Connecticut's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $31,441 in national-average terms. ⚠️ RPPs are an all-items index; housing parities vary far more widely than the headline figure.
What accounts for the gap between gross wage and take-home here?
Take-home of $32,601 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Connecticut 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.