Forest and Conservation Technicians in North Carolina
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$39,616
after federal, FICA and North Carolina tax
Tax takes
$8,744
18.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$42,083
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
$48,360
Kept after tax
$39,616
Worth in national money
$42,083
State rank
39
of 45 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- North Carolina is among the lower-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $48,360, ranking 39 of 45 states — about 11.36% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
- Against other work in North Carolina, this sits in the middle: 301 of 489 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- North Carolina is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $48,360 the take-home is $39,616; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $42,083 would nationally. The average comes to $51,660, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- North Carolina ranks 39 of 45 for forest and conservation technicians, with a median of $48,360 — about 11.36% below the national figure. A nominal shortfall is not by itself a real one: lower-paying states frequently carry lower tax and lower price levels, and the adjusted figures below are where that is settled rather than assumed.
- Forest and conservation technicians ranks 301 of 489 occupations in North Carolina by median pay, in the middle bands. Within-state and national positions are separate measurements and a job commonly sits in different quartiles on each.
- Post-tax income for forest and conservation technicians in North Carolina, on $48,360, is $39,616 — equivalent to $42,083 once regional price parity is applied. ⚠️ The adjustment uses a statewide index that describes no particular address; within-state price variation, concentrated in housing, routinely exceeds the difference between two states. At $51,660 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
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Pay band: Forest and Conservation Technicians
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $39,100 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $48,360 |
| Top tenth earn over | $71,410 |
| This salary | $48,360 |
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 | $39,616 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $41,037 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$147 |
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 | $46,592 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$178 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 94 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- A median is the middle, not an offer. Half of forest and conservation technicians in North Carolina earn under $48,360 and half over. The published range runs $39,100 at the tenth percentile to $71,410 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $39,616 take-home in North Carolina comes from $48,360. 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 301 of 489.
- One number stands for prices across all of North Carolina, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $42,083, the adjusted value of that $48,360 median, as a way to compare states fairly, not as a quote for any particular place. The two datasets are also from different years. This job sits at 301 of 489 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for forest and conservation technicians in North Carolina, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $39,100 to $71,410; within-state dispersion of that width routinely exceeds the dispersion between states, so tenure, employer and metropolitan area predict an individual's pay better than geography does.
- Retained pay of $39,616, from $48,360, assumes a single North Carolina 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 301 of 489 locally, and the state ranks 39 of 45 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for North Carolina, so $42,083 — the adjusted value of that $48,360 median — establishes comparability between states rather than accuracy within one. The wage and parity series are dated independently, each following its own publication cycle, and neither is projected forward. This occupation sits at 301 of 489 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 $51,660 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $39,100 at the tenth percentile, $71,410 at the ninetieth.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. North Carolina is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $42,083 in national terms.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Three of them are federal and one is not. After income tax, Social Security, Medicare and North Carolina's own levy, $39,616 remains.
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 45 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 North Carolina is $51,660. 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 ($39,100 to $71,410) 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 $42,083 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 $39,616 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 45 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.