Environmental Engineers in Oregon
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$87,568
after federal, FICA and Oregon tax
Tax takes
$39,532
31.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$83,620
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
$127,100
Kept after tax
$87,568
Worth in national money
$83,620
State rank
3
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for environmental engineers is strong here. Oregon's middle earner gets $127,100, putting the state 3 of 50 — about 18.66% ahead of the national figure.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in Oregon. It ranks 36 out of 489 occupations the state publishes figures for, which puts it in the top quarter locally.
- Costs eat into it here. Of $127,100, tax leaves $87,568 — and because Oregon is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $83,620 would nationally. Averages run higher here, $127,920, since top earners drag the number up.
- For environmental engineers, Oregon sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $127,100, ranking 3 of 50 and running about 18.66% above the national midpoint. Nominal advantage of this size is usually, though not always, large enough to survive the state's own tax and price levels.
- Within Oregon, environmental engineers ranks 36 of 489 occupations by median pay, placing it in the top quartile of the local distribution. This is the comparison a resident actually makes — against neighbors rather than against the same job elsewhere.
- After tax, $87,568 remains from the Oregon median of $127,100 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $83,620 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $127,920 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Environmental Engineers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $80,720 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $127,100 |
| Top tenth earn over | $181,280 |
| This salary | $127,100 |
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 | $87,568 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $98,139 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$17,372 |
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 | $111,923 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$24,146 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 105 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $127,100 as a midpoint for Oregon, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $80,720 and the ninetieth is $181,280 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In Oregon the take-home figure of $87,568, from $127,100, 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 36 of 489 occupations here.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $83,620 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 36.
- The Oregon median of $127,100 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $80,720 to $181,280. 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 Oregon is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $87,568 from $127,100. 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 36 of 489 locally.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $83,620, worked from $127,100, 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 36 of 489 locally.
Questions people ask
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $80,720, the highest tenth $181,280, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
A larger wage in a dearer place is not automatically more. Adjusted for local prices, this pay behaves like $83,620 of national purchasing power.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Into four separate taxes, not one. Federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare apply everywhere, and Oregon adds its own income tax on top — which is why $87,568 of this wage survives to your account.
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 50 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
What drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($80,720) and the ninetieth ($181,280) 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 $83,620 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 $87,568 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 50 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.