Couriers and Messengers in Hawaii
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$31,628
after federal, FICA and Hawaii tax
Tax takes
$6,952
18.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$29,121
Hawaii costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Hawaii — 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
$38,580
Kept after tax
$31,628
Worth in national money
$29,121
State rank
29
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Hawaii pays couriers and messengers around $38,580 at the midpoint, 29 of 51 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Against 437 occupations Hawaii publishes, couriers and messengers lands at 406. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Hawaii is an expensive state, and the adjusted figure shows it. From $38,580 the take-home is $31,628; in national-average money that behaves like $29,121. The average comes to $40,160, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For couriers and messengers the Hawaii median is $38,580, ranking 29 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.
- Within Hawaii, this work ranks 406 of 437 occupations by median pay, in the bottom quartile. The within-state position is the more salient one for anyone weighing this job against alternatives available to them locally.
- Take-home for couriers and messengers in Hawaii, on $38,580, is $31,628; deflated by the state's price level, $29,121. ⚠️ The deflator is statewide, so it understates the erosion in the state's metropolitan areas and overstates it outside them. At $40,160 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
Choose your filing status and local taxes, compare pay, and keep a shortlist.Compare wage and personal-pay outcomes by state, with selected resident local taxes and saved career choices.
Pay band: Couriers and Messengers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $36,410 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $38,580 |
| Top tenth earn over | $45,250 |
| This salary | $38,580 |
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 Hawaii | $31,628 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $33,179 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$5,023 |
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 | $36,649 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$6,075 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 109 |
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 couriers and messengers in Hawaii earn under $38,580 and half over. The published range runs $36,410 at the tenth percentile to $45,250 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 Hawaii's $31,628, worked from $38,580. 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 406 of 437.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $29,121 uses one figure for the whole of Hawaii. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 437 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 406.
- Figures are distribution medians for couriers and messengers in Hawaii, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $36,410 to $45,250; 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 Hawaii take-home of $31,628, on $38,580 for work ranking 406 of 437 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 406 of 437 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $29,121, worked from $38,580, 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 Hawaii address, on work sitting at 406 of 437 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 $40,160 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $36,410 at the tenth percentile, $45,250 at the ninetieth.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
The number and the value are different things. Hawaii costs more than the national average, so this take-home stretches like $29,121 rather than its face figure.
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 Hawaii's own levy, $31,628 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 Hawaii is $40,160. 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 ($36,410 to $45,250) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Hawaii rather than a national figure.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
Hawaii's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $29,121 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 $31,628 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Hawaii 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.