Food Batchmakers in Maine
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$34,595
after federal, FICA and Maine tax
Tax takes
$7,665
18.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$35,630
Maine costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Maine — 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
$42,260
Kept after tax
$34,595
Worth in national money
$35,630
State rank
15
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for food batchmakers is strong here. Maine's middle earner gets $42,260, putting the state 15 of 50 — about 0.07% ahead of the national figure.
- Measured against other jobs in Maine, this one sits low: 428 of 484 occupations with published pay, in the bottom quarter.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $42,260 the take-home is $34,595, which is worth about $35,630 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is higher, $43,720, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For food batchmakers, Maine sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $42,260, ranking 15 of 50 and running about 0.07% 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.
- Food batchmakers occupies position 428 of 484 in Maine's occupational wage distribution, in the bottom quartile. National ranking and local ranking answer different questions and frequently disagree; this is the one a resident experiences.
- Maine's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for food batchmakers on its $42,260 median: $34,595 retained after tax becomes $35,630 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $43,720 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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Pay band: Food Batchmakers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $36,320 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $42,260 |
| Top tenth earn over | $56,160 |
| This salary | $42,260 |
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 Maine | $34,595 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $36,136 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$1,557 |
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 | $40,343 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$1,883 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 97 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $42,260 as a midpoint for Maine, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $36,320 and the ninetieth is $56,160 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In Maine the take-home figure of $34,595, from $42,260, 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 428 of 484 occupations here.
- One number stands for prices across all of Maine, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $35,630, the adjusted value of that $42,260 median, as a way to compare states fairly, not as a quote for any particular place. The two datasets are also from different years. This job sits at 428 of 484 in the state.
- The Maine median of $42,260 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $36,320 to $56,160. 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 Maine is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $34,595 from $42,260. 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 428 of 484 locally.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Maine, so $35,630 — the adjusted value of that $42,260 median — establishes comparability between states rather than accuracy within one. The wage and parity series are dated independently, each following its own publication cycle, and neither is projected forward. This occupation sits at 428 of 484 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 $43,720, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $36,320 at the bottom tenth to $56,160 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in Maine sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $35,630 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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 Maine adds its own income tax on top — which is why $34,595 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.
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 Maine is $43,720. 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 is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($36,320 to $56,160) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Maine rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Maine'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 $35,630 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 $34,595 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Maine 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.