Food Processing Workers, All Other
What the pay figures show
- Colorado pays food processing workers, all other the most on paper: $46,930. Two things happen before that money is yours. State tax takes a share, which puts New Hampshire in front. Then local prices decide what is left, and North Dakota wins at $43,393. The best offer and the best deal are not the same place.
- For food processing workers, all other, Colorado's $46,930 median leads nominally and survives neither adjustment. State income tax differentials alone are sufficient to promote New Hampshire; regional price parity then promotes North Dakota, whose $43,393 real figure is the highest purchasing power available in this occupation. Nominal wage comparisons across states are therefore a poor guide to relocation, and the error compounds rather than cancels.
Compare this career across states
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Pay by state · May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
National median
$39,680
People doing it
65,000
Highest paid
$46,930
CO
Best off, really
$43,393
ND, after tax and prices
Lowest tenth
$32,210
Highest tenth
$47,950
Lowest, really
$27,110
NJ
States with data
46
National average
$40,300
mean, not median
Prices where it goes furthest
88.57%
ND, against a national 100
Where this job actually pays best
- Nationally, this job pays within a fairly narrow band. Adjust for tax and for local prices and the band tightens again, to between $27,110 and $43,393. Geography is not the main lever on pay here.
- Just 65,000 Americans work in this job. Small fields move around more from year to year.
- Some states are missing here. There are figures for 46 jurisdictions, averaging $39,680 in the middle. A blank means nobody published a number, not that the job pays nothing there. Colorado leads the published set.
- Wages for food processing workers, all other cluster comparatively tightly across states, and the clustering strengthens after tax and price deflation — a real range of $27,110 to $43,393. Occupation-level factors such as specialisation and employer type therefore explain more of an individual's pay here than location does.
- 65,000 are employed nationally in food processing workers, all other — a small occupation, where the state spread above is more sensitive to sample composition than it would be in a large one.
- Coverage for food processing workers, all other runs to 46 jurisdictions, short of the full set. The omitted states are suppressed at source; treat the spread above as the range across reported states rather than across the country.
Pay band: Food Processing Workers, All Other
The national median for this job
50thpercentile, roughly
| Lowest tenth earn under | $32,210 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $39,680 |
| Top tenth earn over | $47,950 |
| This salary | $39,680 |
Positions between the published tenth, quarter, half, three-quarter and ninetieth points are estimated by straight line.
Where these numbers come from
| BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025 estimates, time-series bulk download (oe.data.0.Current) | as of 2025-05-01 |
|---|
Steps in Food Processing Workers, All Other
The national median for this job
$39,680around the 50th percentile
| Lowest tenth | $32,210 |
|---|---|
| Middle | $39,680 |
| Top tenth | $47,950 |
The five points BLS publishes. Nothing between them is invented.
Food Processing Workers, All Other, state by state
The national median for this job
46states publish pay for this job
| Lowest | Nevada · $30,120 |
|---|---|
| Highest | Colorado · $46,930 |
| Spread | $16,810 |
One dot per state that publishes this job. A missing state means suppressed data, not zero pay.
Best paid, and best off
The national median for this job
| Texas pays | $40,150 |
|---|---|
| Worth, after local prices | $41,317 |
Median pay against the same pay once BEA price parities are applied.
Every state, three ways
Sorted by what the money is actually worth. "Kept" is take-home for a single filer after federal, FICA and state income tax. "Really worth" divides that by the state's own price level, so a dollar in each row buys the same thing. Tap a state to put your own salary into it. States BLS does not publish for this job are absent — that means no published figure, not no work.
| State | Median pay | Kept after tax | Really worth |
|---|---|---|---|
| ND | $45,120 | $38,434 | $43,393 |
| ID | $46,820 | $38,172 | $41,752 |
| KS | $46,060 | $36,908 | $41,024 |
| WY | $42,740 | $36,522 | $40,201 |
| MO | $44,050 | $36,441 | $39,713 |
| TN | $42,690 | $36,481 | $39,433 |
| IA | $41,740 | $34,744 | $39,140 |
| CO | $46,930 | $38,532 | $38,006 |
| AZ | $45,330 | $37,872 | $37,458 |
| IN | $41,250 | $34,137 | $37,031 |
| VT | $43,300 | $35,777 | $37,023 |
| IL | $45,340 | $36,511 | $36,934 |
| NH | $45,410 | $38,667 | $36,705 |
| AR | $37,840 | $31,643 | $36,578 |
| OH | $39,470 | $33,525 | $36,515 |
| WI | $40,590 | $33,646 | $36,141 |
| OK | $38,530 | $31,906 | $36,139 |
| MS | $38,150 | $31,400 | $35,971 |
| TX | $40,150 | $34,441 | $35,442 |
| UT | $41,400 | $33,603 | $35,370 |
| PA | $41,620 | $34,344 | $35,225 |
| WV | $37,750 | $31,540 | $35,133 |
| MN | $41,800 | $34,349 | $34,901 |
| MT | $37,740 | $31,487 | $34,891 |
| WA | $43,980 | $37,518 | $34,559 |
| KY | $37,450 | $31,078 | $34,352 |
| FL | $41,390 | $35,437 | $34,254 |
| AL | $37,510 | $30,725 | $34,150 |
| MI | $38,750 | $31,919 | $33,891 |
| SC | $37,060 | $31,519 | $33,827 |
| NC | $37,360 | $31,217 | $33,160 |
| ME | $38,270 | $31,621 | $32,566 |
| NM | $34,560 | $29,430 | $32,561 |
| DE | $39,470 | $32,270 | $32,513 |
| NY | $42,920 | $34,946 | $32,469 |
| MA | $43,200 | $35,051 | $32,383 |
| GA | $37,810 | $31,272 | $32,340 |
| VA | $37,810 | $31,147 | $30,915 |
| LA | $31,230 | $26,723 | $30,248 |
| CT | $37,450 | $31,151 | $30,043 |
| RI | $34,770 | $29,234 | $28,827 |
| OR | $38,170 | $30,060 | $28,705 |
| CA | $38,230 | $32,233 | $28,631 |
| MD | $35,870 | $29,661 | $28,530 |
| NV | $30,120 | $26,381 | $27,203 |
| NJ | $34,670 | $29,518 | $27,110 |
Sources and assumptions
- Treat the numbers for food processing workers, all other as a midpoint, not a promise. The national middle is $39,680, which means half of everyone doing this work earns less than that. Where you land depends on how long you have done it, who you do it for, and which city you do it in.
- One filer, no dependants, nothing paid into a pension before tax — that is the household behind every take-home figure for food processing workers, all other. It is the simplest case on purpose, so the states can be compared against each other rather than against each other's family circumstances. City income taxes are not counted. On that household, New Hampshire keeps the most at $38,667.
- One price figure per state stands behind the real-terms numbers for food processing workers, all other. Inside any state, a big city costs far more than a small town, so this is a fair way to compare states with each other and a poor way to price a specific move. The wage figures and the price figures are also from different years. At the bottom of the range sits New Jersey, on $27,110.
- These are distribution medians for food processing workers, all other, with a national value of $39,680. They describe a midpoint rather than an expected offer, and the within-occupation spread — visible in the tenth and ninetieth percentile figures — is wide enough that a state-level median is a weak predictor for any individual worker.
- The household modeled for food processing workers, all other is a single filer, standard deduction, no dependants, no pre-tax contributions. Holding the household constant is what makes the interstate comparison meaningful; it also means the absolute figures overstate liability for most real filers. On that basis New Hampshire retains the most, $38,667. Municipal and school-district income taxes are not included in any state.
- Real-terms results for food processing workers, all other rest on statewide regional price parities, which average over intra-state variation that is itself larger than much of the interstate variation. They support comparison between states and not the pricing of an individual relocation; New Jersey anchors the distribution at $27,110. Wage and price series are published on separate cycles and therefore carry different reference periods.