Couriers and Messengers in Wisconsin
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$30,871
after federal, FICA and Wisconsin tax
Tax takes
$6,039
16.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$33,160
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
$36,910
Kept after tax
$30,871
Worth in national money
$33,160
State rank
40
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Wisconsin pays couriers and messengers a middle wage of $36,910, 40 of 51 states and about 5.84% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Within Wisconsin this is lower-paid work. Of 491 occupations the state publishes figures for, couriers and messengers ranks 442. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $36,910 you keep $30,871 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $33,160 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $38,550, since top earners drag the number up.
- Wisconsin's $36,910 median for couriers and messengers places it 40 of 51 states, about 5.84% below national. Because both the tax and price adjustments tend to favor lower-nominal states, this ranking is the least stable of the three reported here.
- Against every occupation Wisconsin reports, couriers and messengers ranks 442 of 491, 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.
- Retained pay in Wisconsin is $30,871 after the full tax stack, from $36,910. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $33,160 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $38,550 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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 | $29,770 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $36,910 |
| Top tenth earn over | $45,960 |
| This salary | $36,910 |
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 | $30,871 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $31,837 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$397 |
The raise and the real gain point in opposite directions here.
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 | $35,707 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$480 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 93 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Wisconsin earn less than $36,910. The published range is $29,770 up to $45,960, 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 Wisconsin's $30,871, worked from $36,910. 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 442 of 491.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $33,160 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 442.
- Reported values are medians; for couriers and messengers in Wisconsin the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $29,770 to $45,960. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The Wisconsin take-home of $30,871, on $36,910 for work ranking 442 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 442 of 491 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $33,160, worked from $36,910, 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 442 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $38,550, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $29,770 at the bottom tenth to $45,960 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
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 $33,160 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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 Wisconsin adds its own income tax on top — which is why $30,871 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 Wisconsin is $38,550. 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 ($29,770 to $45,960) 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 $33,160 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 $30,871 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.
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.