Food Batchmakers in North Carolina
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$30,629
after federal, FICA and North Carolina tax
Tax takes
$5,961
16.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$32,536
North Carolina costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in North Carolina — 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
$36,590
Kept after tax
$30,629
Worth in national money
$32,536
State rank
45
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. North Carolina pays food batchmakers a middle wage of $36,590, 45 of 50 states and about 13.48% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Within North Carolina this is lower-paid work. Of 489 occupations the state publishes figures for, food batchmakers ranks 433. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $36,590 you keep $30,629 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $32,536 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $38,210, since top earners drag the number up.
- North Carolina's $36,590 median for food batchmakers places it 45 of 50 states, about 13.48% below national. Because both the tax and price adjustments tend to favor lower-nominal states, this ranking is the least stable of the three reported here.
- Against every occupation North Carolina reports, food batchmakers ranks 433 of 489, in the lowest quartile of the state's distribution. That position is set by the local labor market and is independent of how the state compares nationally for this work.
- Retained pay in North Carolina is $30,629 after the full tax stack, from $36,590. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $32,536 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $38,210 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Food Batchmakers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $29,030 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $36,590 |
| Top tenth earn over | $51,070 |
| This salary | $36,590 |
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 North Carolina | $30,629 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $31,580 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$38 |
The raise and the real gain point in opposite directions here.
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 | $35,406 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$46 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 94 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in North Carolina earn less than $36,590. The published range is $29,030 up to $51,070, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind North Carolina's $30,629, worked from $36,590. 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 433 of 489.
- Two cautions on $32,536, the adjusted value of that $36,590 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of North Carolina. 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 433 of 489 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for food batchmakers in North Carolina the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $29,030 to $51,070. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The North Carolina take-home of $30,629, on $36,590 for work ranking 433 of 489 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 433 of 489 in the state.
- This $32,536 adjusted figure, worked from $36,590, 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 433 of 489 in the state. The occupation ranks 433 of 489 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $38,210, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $29,030 at the bottom tenth to $51,070 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
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 $32,536.
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; North Carolina then takes its own share, leaving $30,629.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 50 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release 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 North Carolina is $38,210. 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 ($29,030 to $51,070) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to North Carolina rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
North Carolina'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 $32,536 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 $30,629 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and North Carolina 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.