Curators in Idaho

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May 2025 wages · tax year 2026

You keep

$49,707

after federal, FICA and Idaho tax

Tax takes

$12,483

20.1% of the whole

Worth, in national money

$54,369

Idaho costs less than average

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

$62,190

Kept after tax

$49,707

Worth in national money

$54,369

State rank

22

of 49 states

What this pays, and what it is worth

  • Idaho sits in the middle of the pack for curators. The median is $62,190, ranking 22 of 49 states with figures. Close enough to the national middle that where you live matters more than the headline suggests.
  • Against other work in Idaho, this sits in the middle: 180 of 476 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 $62,190 you keep $49,707 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $54,369 at national prices. Here the average runs under the middle, at $57,930.
  • Idaho occupies the middle band for curators: a median of $62,190, ranking 22 of 49. Where nominal pay is close to the national figure, the tax and price adjustments below carry proportionally more weight in determining the real outcome.
  • Curators ranks 180 of 476 occupations in Idaho 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 Idaho is $49,707 after the full tax stack, from $62,190. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $54,369 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $57,930 sits under the median, so the lower tail is the longer one.

Compare this career across states

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Pay band: Curators

The state median for this job

50thpercentile, roughly
Lowest tenth earn under$40,170
Half earn under$62,190
Top tenth earn over$76,400
This salary$62,190

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

Compare with
+$2,443take-home per year in Texas
Take-home in Idaho$49,707
Take-home in Texas$52,150
Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity−$703

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

Moving to
$0$63,041
$63,041in Texas, for the same life
To match take-home only$59,150
Raise you would need+$851
Prices in Texas97 vs 91

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 curators in Idaho earn under $62,190 and half over. The published range runs $40,170 at the tenth percentile to $76,400 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
  • That $49,707 take-home in Idaho comes from $62,190. 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 180 of 476.
  • The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $54,369 uses one figure for the whole of Idaho. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 476 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 180.
  • Figures are distribution medians for curators in Idaho, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $40,170 to $76,400; 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.
  • Retained pay of $49,707, from $62,190, assumes a single Idaho 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 180 of 476 locally, and the state ranks 22 of 49 for it.
  • Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $54,369, worked from $62,190, 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 Idaho address, on work sitting at 180 of 476 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 $57,930 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.

How much does pay for this job actually vary?

The range here is narrow. From $40,170 at the bottom tenth to $76,400 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.

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 $54,369.

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 Idaho adds its own income tax on top — which is why $49,707 of this wage survives to your account.

Why is this job missing from some states?

The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 49 states here, and a missing state means too few reports, not no jobs.

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 Idaho is $57,930. 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 ($40,170 to $76,400) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Idaho rather than a national figure.

What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?

Idaho'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 $54,369 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 $49,707 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Idaho 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.