Food Processing Workers, All Other in Utah
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$33,603
after federal, FICA and Utah tax
Tax takes
$7,797
18.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$35,370
Utah costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Utah — 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
$41,400
Kept after tax
$33,603
Worth in national money
$35,370
State rank
18
of 46 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Utah pays food processing workers, all other around $41,400 at the midpoint, 18 of 46 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Against 487 occupations Utah publishes, food processing workers, all other lands at 396. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Here is where Utah does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $41,400 you keep $33,603, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $35,370 would elsewhere. The average is lower, $39,920, so pay clusters nearer the top than usual.
- For food processing workers, all other the Utah median is $41,400, ranking 18 of 46 states reporting. Mid-band nominal positions are the ones most frequently reordered by the adjustments, because no large wage premium exists to absorb a state's tax or price level.
- Within Utah, this work ranks 396 of 487 occupations by median pay, in the bottom quartile. The within-state position is the more salient one for anyone weighing this job against alternatives available to them locally.
- After federal, FICA and Utah income tax, retained pay for food processing workers, all other on $41,400 is $33,603. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $35,370 in national-average terms. ⚠️ That figure is purchasing power, not a wage, and nobody is paid it; it is what the take-home buys. The mean of $39,920 falls below the median, a left skew that is uncommon in wage data.
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Pay band: Food Processing Workers, All Other
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $30,830 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $41,400 |
| Top tenth earn over | $52,990 |
| This salary | $41,400 |
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 Utah | $33,603 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $35,445 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$1,105 |
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 | $39,107 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$1,336 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 95 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Utah earn less than $41,400. The published range is $30,830 up to $52,990, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $33,603 take-home in Utah comes from $41,400. It is the no-frills case: single filer, standard deduction, nothing set aside before tax. Real circumstances almost always reduce the tax. City and school-district taxes are not counted at all. Locally the work ranks 396 of 487.
- Two cautions on $35,370, the adjusted value of that $41,400 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Utah. 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 396 of 487 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for food processing workers, all other in Utah the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $30,830 to $52,990. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $33,603, from $41,400, assumes a single Utah filer with the standard deduction and no elective deferrals. Pre-tax retirement or HSA contributions, dependants and itemized deductions all reduce it further; local income taxes, excluded here, would increase it in the states that levy them. This occupation ranks 396 of 487 locally, and the state ranks 18 of 46 for it.
- This $35,370 adjusted figure, worked from $41,400, 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 396 of 487 in the state. The occupation ranks 396 of 487 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 $39,920, 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?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $30,830 and the top tenth $52,990, so most people doing this work in Utah sit within a fairly tight band.
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 $35,370.
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 Utah adds its own income tax on top — which is why $33,603 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 46 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 Utah is $39,920. 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 ($30,830 to $52,990) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Utah rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Utah'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 $35,370 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 $33,603 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Utah 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 46 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.