Electrical Engineers in Pennsylvania
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$83,390
after federal, FICA and Pennsylvania tax
Tax takes
$27,430
24.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$85,528
Pennsylvania costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Pennsylvania — 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
$110,820
Kept after tax
$83,390
Worth in national money
$85,528
State rank
24
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pennsylvania sits in the middle of the pack for electrical engineers. The median is $110,820, ranking 24 of 49 states with figures. Close enough to the national middle that where you live matters more than the headline suggests.
- Within Pennsylvania this is well-paid work. Of 492 occupations with published figures in the state, electrical engineers ranks 33 — in the top quarter of everything people do there.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $110,820 the take-home is $83,390, which is worth about $85,528 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is higher, $118,310, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Pennsylvania occupies the middle band for electrical engineers: a median of $110,820, ranking 24 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.
- Ranked against every occupation Pennsylvania publishes a median for, electrical engineers sits 33 of 492 — the upper quartile of the state's wage distribution. National standing and within-state standing are separate questions, and a job can occupy very different positions on each.
- Pennsylvania's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for electrical engineers on its $110,820 median: $83,390 retained after tax becomes $85,528 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $118,310 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Electrical Engineers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $77,650 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $110,820 |
| Top tenth earn over | $167,260 |
| This salary | $110,820 |
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 Pennsylvania | $83,390 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $86,792 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$3,787 |
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 | $105,984 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$5,231 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 98 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $110,820 as a midpoint for Pennsylvania, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $77,650 and the ninetieth is $167,260 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In Pennsylvania the take-home figure of $83,390, from $110,820, 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 33 of 492 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $85,528, the adjusted value of that $110,820 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Pennsylvania. No actual address matches that. The wage figures and price figures are also from different years. Each is published on its own timetable. This work sits at 33 of 492 locally.
- The Pennsylvania median of $110,820 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $77,650 to $167,260. 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 Pennsylvania is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $83,390 from $110,820. 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 33 of 492 locally.
- This $85,528 adjusted figure, worked from $110,820, rests on a state-level price parity averaging over within-state dispersion larger than much of the between-state dispersion. Wage and price vintages differ by publication schedule. The result is directionally sound and not address-specific, for work at 33 of 492 in the state. The occupation ranks 33 of 492 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
No — it is the middle. Half of these workers earn more and half earn less. The average is $118,310, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $77,650 and the top tenth $167,260 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
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 $85,528.
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 Pennsylvania's own levy, $83,390 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
Because the survey suppresses a figure when too few employers report it. This occupation has published pay in 49 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
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 Pennsylvania is $118,310. 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 ($77,650) and the ninetieth ($167,260) 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.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Pennsylvania'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 $85,528 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 $83,390 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Pennsylvania 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.