Curators in Oregon
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$47,688
after federal, FICA and Oregon tax
Tax takes
$15,102
24.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$45,538
Oregon costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Oregon — 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
$62,790
Kept after tax
$47,688
Worth in national money
$45,538
State rank
21
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Oregon pays curators around $62,790 at the midpoint, 21 of 49 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Against other work in Oregon, this sits in the middle: 252 of 489 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- The wage here flatters the reality. From $62,790 the take-home is $47,688. But Oregon costs more than the national average, so that money behaves more like $45,538 would elsewhere. Worth knowing before comparing offers across states. The average is higher, $65,700, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For curators the Oregon median is $62,790, ranking 21 of 49 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.
- Curators ranks 252 of 489 occupations in Oregon 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 after federal, FICA and Oregon income tax is $47,688 for curators, from $62,790. The state's price level exceeds the national average, so the price-adjusted equivalent is $45,538. ⚠️ This is purchasing power and not a wage; cross-state offer comparisons that stop at the nominal figure systematically overvalue high-cost states. The mean of $65,700 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Curators
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $43,100 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $62,790 |
| Top tenth earn over | $103,880 |
| This salary | $62,790 |
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 Oregon | $47,688 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $52,632 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$8,624 |
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 | $56,637 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$10,430 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 105 |
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 Oregon earn under $62,790 and half over. The published range runs $43,100 at the tenth percentile to $103,880 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 Oregon's $47,688, worked from $62,790. 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 252 of 489.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $45,538 uses one figure for the whole of Oregon. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 489 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 252.
- Figures are distribution medians for curators in Oregon, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $43,100 to $103,880; 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 Oregon take-home of $47,688, on $62,790 for work ranking 252 of 489 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 252 of 489 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $45,538, worked from $62,790, 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 Oregon address, on work sitting at 252 of 489 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 $65,700 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 $43,100, the highest tenth $103,880, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
Not on its own. Prices in Oregon run above the national level, so the same dollars buy less here. Adjusted for that, this pay is worth $45,538 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Four deductions, stacked. The federal layer and the two payroll taxes apply wherever you work; Oregon then takes its own share, leaving $47,688.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 49 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release one.
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 Oregon is $65,700. 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 ($43,100) and the ninetieth ($103,880) 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.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
Oregon's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $45,538 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 $47,688 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Oregon 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.