Forest and Conservation Technicians in Arizona
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$46,692
after federal, FICA and Arizona tax
Tax takes
$9,968
17.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$46,182
Arizona costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Arizona — 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
$56,660
Kept after tax
$46,692
Worth in national money
$46,182
State rank
12
of 45 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Arizona is one of the better-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $56,660, which ranks 12 of 45 states with published figures. That is about 3.85% above the national middle.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 257 among 491 occupations Arizona publishes pay for.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $56,660, tax leaves $46,692, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $46,182 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $59,980, since top earners drag the number up.
- Arizona ranks 12 of 45 states publishing a median for forest and conservation technicians, at $56,660 — about 3.85% above the national median. A state's position on nominal pay is the figure wage tables report and the least informative of the three on this page, because it survives neither the tax adjustment nor the price adjustment intact for most occupations.
- Position 257 of 491 in Arizona places forest and conservation technicians in the middle of the state's wage distribution. Because within-state and cross-state rankings measure different things, this figure and the national one above should be read together rather than as a single verdict.
- Because Arizona sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for forest and conservation technicians — median $56,660 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $46,692 retained, $46,182 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $59,980 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
Choose your filing status and local taxes, compare pay, and keep a shortlist.Compare wage and personal-pay outcomes by state, with selected resident local taxes and saved career choices.
Pay band: Forest and Conservation Technicians
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $43,660 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $56,660 |
| Top tenth earn over | $81,720 |
| This salary | $56,660 |
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 Arizona | $46,692 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $47,706 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$2,911 |
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 | $55,398 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$3,521 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 101 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $56,660 as a midpoint for Arizona, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $43,660 and the ninetieth is $81,720 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Arizona's $46,692, worked from $56,660. 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 257 of 491.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $46,182 uses one figure for the whole of Arizona. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 491 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 257.
- The Arizona median of $56,660 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $43,660 to $81,720. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- The Arizona take-home of $46,692, on $56,660 for work ranking 257 of 491 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 257 of 491 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $46,182, worked from $56,660, deflates by a statewide parity that conceals substantial intra-state variation, concentrated in housing — so it supports comparison between states rather than the pricing of a move to a particular Arizona address, on work sitting at 257 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
Half earn more than this and half earn less. The average sits at $59,980 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $43,660 and the top tenth $81,720, so most people doing this work in Arizona sit within a fairly tight band.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
A larger wage in a dearer place is not automatically more. Adjusted for local prices, this pay behaves like $46,182 of national purchasing power.
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 Arizona adds its own income tax on top — which is why $46,692 of this wage survives to your account.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 45 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 Arizona is $59,980. 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 ($43,660 to $81,720) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Arizona rather than a national figure.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
Arizona's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $46,182 in national-average terms. ⚠️ RPPs are an all-items index; housing parities vary far more widely than the headline figure.
What accounts for the gap between gross wage and take-home here?
Take-home of $46,692 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Arizona 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 45 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.