Food Processing Workers, All Other in Wisconsin
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$33,646
after federal, FICA and Wisconsin tax
Tax takes
$6,944
17.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$36,141
Wisconsin costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Wisconsin — 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
$40,590
Kept after tax
$33,646
Worth in national money
$36,141
State rank
21
of 46 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Wisconsin pays food processing workers, all other around $40,590 at the midpoint, 21 of 46 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Against 491 occupations Wisconsin publishes, food processing workers, all other lands at 416. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $40,590 you keep $33,646 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $36,141 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $44,010, since top earners drag the number up.
- For food processing workers, all other the Wisconsin median is $40,590, ranking 21 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 Wisconsin, this work ranks 416 of 491 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.
- Retained pay in Wisconsin is $33,646 after the full tax stack, from $40,590. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $36,141 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $44,010 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Food Processing Workers, All Other
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $36,800 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $40,590 |
| Top tenth earn over | $57,780 |
| This salary | $40,590 |
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 Wisconsin | $33,646 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $34,794 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$336 |
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 | $39,162 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$406 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 93 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Wisconsin earn less than $40,590. The published range is $36,800 up to $57,780, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $33,646 take-home in Wisconsin comes from $40,590. 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 416 of 491.
- Two cautions on $36,141, the adjusted value of that $40,590 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Wisconsin. 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 416 of 491 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for food processing workers, all other in Wisconsin the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $36,800 to $57,780. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $33,646, from $40,590, assumes a single Wisconsin 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 416 of 491 locally, and the state ranks 21 of 46 for it.
- This $36,141 adjusted figure, worked from $40,590, 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 416 of 491 in the state. The occupation ranks 416 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $44,010, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $36,800 and the top tenth $57,780, so most people doing this work in Wisconsin sit within a fairly tight band.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Wisconsin is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $36,141 in national terms.
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; Wisconsin then takes its own share, leaving $33,646.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 46 states here, and a missing state means too few reports, not no jobs.
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 Wisconsin is $44,010. 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 ($36,800 to $57,780) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Wisconsin rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Wisconsin'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 $36,141 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 $33,646 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Wisconsin 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.