First-Line Supervisors of Security Workers in Pennsylvania
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$38,896
after federal, FICA and Pennsylvania tax
Tax takes
$8,614
18.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$39,893
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
$47,510
Kept after tax
$38,896
Worth in national money
$39,893
State rank
42
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pennsylvania is among the lower-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $47,510, ranking 42 of 51 states — about 15.07% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
- Against other work in Pennsylvania, this sits in the middle: 347 of 492 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $47,510, tax leaves $38,896, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $39,893 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $54,720, since top earners drag the number up.
- Pennsylvania ranks 42 of 51 for first-line supervisors of security workers, with a median of $47,510 — about 15.07% below the national figure. A nominal shortfall is not by itself a real one: lower-paying states frequently carry lower tax and lower price levels, and the adjusted figures below are where that is settled rather than assumed.
- First-line supervisors of security workers ranks 347 of 492 occupations in Pennsylvania by median pay, in the middle bands. Within-state and national positions are separate measurements and a job commonly sits in different quartiles on each.
- Because Pennsylvania sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for first-line supervisors of security workers — median $47,510 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $38,896 retained, $39,893 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $54,720 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: First-Line Supervisors of Security Workers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $36,580 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $47,510 |
| Top tenth earn over | $79,840 |
| This salary | $47,510 |
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 | $38,896 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $40,354 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$1,634 |
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 | $45,695 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$1,977 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 98 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $47,510 as a midpoint for Pennsylvania, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $36,580 and the ninetieth is $79,840 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Pennsylvania's $38,896, worked from $47,510. 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 347 of 492.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $39,893 uses one figure for the whole of Pennsylvania. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 492 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 347.
- The Pennsylvania median of $47,510 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $36,580 to $79,840. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- The Pennsylvania take-home of $38,896, on $47,510 for work ranking 347 of 492 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 347 of 492 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $39,893, worked from $47,510, 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 Pennsylvania address, on work sitting at 347 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 $54,720, 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?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $36,580, the highest tenth $79,840, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
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 $39,893.
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 $38,896.
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 Pennsylvania is $54,720. 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 ($36,580) and the ninetieth ($79,840) 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 $39,893 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 $38,896 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.