Emergency Medical Technicians in Pennsylvania
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$35,650
after federal, FICA and Pennsylvania tax
Tax takes
$7,660
17.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$36,564
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
$43,310
Kept after tax
$35,650
Worth in national money
$36,564
State rank
23
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Pennsylvania pays this job around $43,310 at the midpoint, 23 of 51 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Against 492 occupations Pennsylvania publishes, this job lands at 397. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $43,310, tax leaves $35,650, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $36,564 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $43,820, since top earners drag the number up.
- For emergency medical technicians the Pennsylvania median is $43,310, ranking 23 of 51 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.
- Within Pennsylvania, this work ranks 397 of 492 occupations by median pay, in the bottom quartile. The within-state position is the more salient one for anyone weighing this job against alternatives available to them locally.
- Because Pennsylvania sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for emergency medical technicians — median $43,310 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $35,650 retained, $36,564 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $43,820 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Emergency Medical Technicians
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $34,480 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $43,310 |
| Top tenth earn over | $54,370 |
| This salary | $43,310 |
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 | $35,650 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $36,980 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$1,491 |
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 | $41,655 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$1,803 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 98 |
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 emergency medical technicians in Pennsylvania earn under $43,310 and half over. The published range runs $34,480 at the tenth percentile to $54,370 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $35,650 take-home in Pennsylvania comes from $43,310. 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 397 of 492.
- Two cautions on $36,564, the adjusted value of that $43,310 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 397 of 492 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for emergency medical technicians in Pennsylvania, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $34,480 to $54,370; 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 $35,650, from $43,310, assumes a single Pennsylvania 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 397 of 492 locally, and the state ranks 23 of 51 for it.
- This $36,564 adjusted figure, worked from $43,310, 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 397 of 492 in the state. The occupation ranks 397 of 492 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $34,480 and the top tenth $54,370, so most people doing this work in Pennsylvania sit within a fairly tight band.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in Pennsylvania sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $36,564 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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; Pennsylvania then takes its own share, leaving $35,650.
Can I compare this job across every state?
Yes for this one. Pay is published in all 51 jurisdictions, so a state-to-state comparison here rests on the same survey everywhere rather than on a patchwork.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($34,480 to $54,370) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Pennsylvania rather than a national figure.
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 $36,564 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 $35,650 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.
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.