Editors in Hawaii
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$43,687
after federal, FICA and Hawaii tax
Tax takes
$11,383
20.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$40,224
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
$55,070
Kept after tax
$43,687
Worth in national money
$40,224
State rank
43
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for editors is on the low side in Hawaii. The middle earner gets $55,070. That is 43 of 50 states, and about 29.32% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 437 occupations Hawaii reports figures for, this is number 280.
- Costs eat into it here. Of $55,070, tax leaves $43,687 — and because Hawaii is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $40,224 would nationally. Averages run higher here, $66,010, since top earners drag the number up.
- For editors, Hawaii sits in the lower band at $55,070, ranking 43 of 50 and trailing the national median by about 29.32%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- In Hawaii's occupational distribution, editors sits at 280 of 437 — neither quartile. This local position is what a resident compares against, and it is determined by the state's own labor market rather than by national patterns for this occupation.
- After tax, $43,687 remains from the Hawaii median of $55,070 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $40,224 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $66,010 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Editors
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $32,930 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $55,070 |
| Top tenth earn over | $107,200 |
| This salary | $55,070 |
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 | $43,687 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $46,429 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$7,555 |
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 | $51,657 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$9,137 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 109 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Hawaii earn less than $55,070. The published range is $32,930 up to $107,200, 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 Hawaii's $43,687, worked from $55,070. 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 280 of 437.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $40,224 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 280.
- Reported values are medians; for editors in Hawaii the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $32,930 to $107,200. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The Hawaii take-home of $43,687, on $55,070 for work ranking 280 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 280 of 437 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $40,224, worked from $55,070, 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 280 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 $66,010, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $32,930, the highest tenth $107,200, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
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 $40,224 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, $43,687 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 50 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 Hawaii is $66,010. 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 ($32,930) and the ninetieth ($107,200) 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 $40,224 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 $43,687 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.
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 50 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.