Hazardous Materials Removal Workers in North Carolina
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$35,661
after federal, FICA and North Carolina tax
Tax takes
$7,519
17.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$37,881
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
$43,180
Kept after tax
$35,661
Worth in national money
$37,881
State rank
46
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. North Carolina pays this job a middle wage of $43,180, 46 of 51 states and about 12.68% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Within North Carolina this is lower-paid work. Of 489 occupations the state publishes figures for, this job ranks 379. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- North Carolina is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $43,180 the take-home is $35,661; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $37,881 would nationally. The average comes to $45,090, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- North Carolina's $43,180 median for hazardous materials removal workers places it 46 of 51 states, about 12.68% below national. Because both the tax and price adjustments tend to favor lower-nominal states, this ranking is the least stable of the three reported here.
- Against every occupation North Carolina reports, hazardous materials removal workers ranks 379 of 489, in the lowest quartile of the state's distribution. That position is set by the local labor market and is independent of how the state compares nationally for this work.
- Post-tax income for hazardous materials removal workers in North Carolina, on $43,180, is $35,661 — equivalent to $37,881 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 $45,090 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
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Pay band: Hazardous Materials Removal Workers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $37,330 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $43,180 |
| Top tenth earn over | $58,720 |
| This salary | $43,180 |
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 | $35,661 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $36,875 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$66 |
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 | $41,669 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$80 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 94 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $43,180 as a midpoint for North Carolina, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $37,330 and the ninetieth is $58,720 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In North Carolina the take-home figure of $35,661, from $43,180, assumes one filer, no dependants, and nothing paid into a pension before tax. Each of those lowers the bill, so treat it as the plain case. City and school-district income taxes are not included either, and in a few states those are real money. It ranks 379 of 489 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $37,881, the adjusted value of that $43,180 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of North Carolina. 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 379 of 489 locally.
- The North Carolina median of $43,180 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $37,330 to $58,720. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Take-home for North Carolina is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $35,661 from $43,180. Each omitted item reduces taxable income, so the figure is a lower bound on retained pay for this household shape. Municipal and school-district income taxes are excluded, which understates the burden materially in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The occupation ranks 379 of 489 locally.
- This $37,881 adjusted figure, worked from $43,180, 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 379 of 489 in the state. The occupation ranks 379 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 $45,090, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $37,330 at the bottom tenth to $58,720 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
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 $37,881.
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 North Carolina adds its own income tax on top — which is why $35,661 of this wage survives to your account.
Can I compare this job across every state?
All 51 jurisdictions report this work, which makes the ranking a like-for-like 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 North Carolina is $45,090. 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 ($37,330 to $58,720) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to 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 $37,881 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 $35,661 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.
Is this occupation's state coverage complete?
State-level estimates are published for all 51 jurisdictions for this occupation, so cross-state comparison is not confounded by suppression. ⚠️ Estimates remain survey-based and carry sampling error; small differences between adjacent states should not be over-read.