Forest and Conservation Technicians in Oregon
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$42,762
after federal, FICA and Oregon tax
Tax takes
$13,148
23.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$40,834
Oregon costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Oregon — 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
$55,910
Kept after tax
$42,762
Worth in national money
$40,834
State rank
14
of 45 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is strong here. Oregon's middle earner gets $55,910, putting the state 14 of 45 — about 2.47% ahead of the national figure.
- Against other work in Oregon, this sits in the middle: 310 of 489 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Costs eat into it here. Of $55,910, tax leaves $42,762 — and because Oregon is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $40,834 would nationally. Averages run higher here, $60,180, since top earners drag the number up.
- For forest and conservation technicians, Oregon sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $55,910, ranking 14 of 45 and running about 2.47% above the national midpoint. Nominal advantage of this size is usually, though not always, large enough to survive the state's own tax and price levels.
- Forest and conservation technicians ranks 310 of 489 occupations in Oregon 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.
- After tax, $42,762 remains from the Oregon median of $55,910 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $40,834 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $60,180 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Forest and Conservation Technicians
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $43,660 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $55,910 |
| Top tenth earn over | $82,990 |
| This salary | $55,910 |
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 Oregon | $42,762 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $47,104 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$7,639 |
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 | $50,506 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$9,239 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 105 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $55,910 as a midpoint for Oregon, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $43,660 and the ninetieth is $82,990 — 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 Oregon's $42,762, worked from $55,910. 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 310 of 489.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $40,834 uses one figure for the whole of Oregon. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 489 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 310.
- The Oregon median of $55,910 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $43,660 to $82,990. 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 Oregon take-home of $42,762, on $55,910 for work ranking 310 of 489 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 310 of 489 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $40,834, worked from $55,910, 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 Oregon address, on work sitting at 310 of 489 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $60,180, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $43,660 at the tenth percentile, $82,990 at the ninetieth.
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 $40,834 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 Oregon adds its own income tax on top — which is why $42,762 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 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 Oregon is $60,180. 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 $82,990) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Oregon rather than a national figure.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
Oregon's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $40,834 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 $42,762 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Oregon 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.