Driver/Sales Workers in Hawaii
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$26,251
after federal, FICA and Hawaii tax
Tax takes
$5,019
16.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$24,170
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
$31,270
Kept after tax
$26,251
Worth in national money
$24,170
State rank
42
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Hawaii pays driver/sales workers a middle wage of $31,270, 42 of 51 states and about 19.34% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Within Hawaii this is lower-paid work. Of 437 occupations the state publishes figures for, driver/sales workers ranks 436. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Costs eat into it here. Of $31,270, tax leaves $26,251 — and because Hawaii is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $24,170 would nationally. Averages run higher here, $39,590, since top earners drag the number up.
- Hawaii's $31,270 median for driver/sales workers places it 42 of 51 states, about 19.34% 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 Hawaii reports, driver/sales workers ranks 436 of 437, 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, $26,251 remains from the Hawaii median of $31,270 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $24,170 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $39,590 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Driver/Sales Workers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $29,120 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $31,270 |
| Top tenth earn over | $62,720 |
| This salary | $31,270 |
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 | $26,251 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $27,305 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$3,929 |
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 | $29,958 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$4,704 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 109 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $31,270 as a midpoint for Hawaii, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $29,120 and the ninetieth is $62,720 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In Hawaii the take-home figure of $26,251, from $31,270, assumes one filer, no dependants, and nothing paid into a pension before tax. Each of those lowers the bill, so treat it as the plain case. City and school-district income taxes are not included either, and in a few states those are real money. It ranks 436 of 437 occupations here.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $24,170 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 436.
- The Hawaii median of $31,270 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $29,120 to $62,720. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Take-home for Hawaii is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $26,251 from $31,270. Each omitted item reduces taxable income, so the figure is a lower bound on retained pay for this household shape. Municipal and school-district income taxes are excluded, which understates the burden materially in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The occupation ranks 436 of 437 locally.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $24,170, worked from $31,270, 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 436 of 437 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $39,590, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
The label is broader than the work. From $29,120 at the bottom tenth to $62,720 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
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 $24,170 rather than its face figure.
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; Hawaii then takes its own share, leaving $26,251.
Can I compare this job across every state?
All 51 jurisdictions report this work, which makes the ranking a like-for-like 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 Hawaii is $39,590. 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 ($29,120) and the ninetieth ($62,720) 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?
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 $24,170 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 $26,251 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.