Helpers--Installation, Maintenance, and Repair Workers in Maine
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$32,553
after federal, FICA and Maine tax
Tax takes
$6,967
17.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$33,526
Maine costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Maine — 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
$39,520
Kept after tax
$32,553
Worth in national money
$33,526
State rank
26
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Maine pays this job around $39,520 at the midpoint, 26 of 50 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Against 484 occupations Maine publishes, this job lands at 438. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $39,520, tax leaves $32,553, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $33,526 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $42,160, since top earners drag the number up.
- For helpers--installation, maintenance, and repair workers the Maine median is $39,520, ranking 26 of 50 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 Maine, this work ranks 438 of 484 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.
- Because Maine sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for helpers--installation, maintenance, and repair workers — median $39,520 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $32,553 retained, $33,526 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $42,160 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Helpers--Installation, Maintenance, and Repair Workers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $35,040 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $39,520 |
| Top tenth earn over | $51,810 |
| This salary | $39,520 |
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 Maine | $32,553 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $33,934 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$1,395 |
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 | $37,801 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$1,687 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 97 |
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 helpers--installation, maintenance, and repair workers in Maine earn under $39,520 and half over. The published range runs $35,040 at the tenth percentile to $51,810 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In Maine the take-home figure of $32,553, from $39,520, 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 438 of 484 occupations here.
- One number stands for prices across all of Maine, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $33,526, the adjusted value of that $39,520 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 438 of 484 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for helpers--installation, maintenance, and repair workers in Maine, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $35,040 to $51,810; 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.
- Take-home for Maine is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $32,553 from $39,520. 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 438 of 484 locally.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Maine, so $33,526 — the adjusted value of that $39,520 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 438 of 484 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 $42,160 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 — $35,040 at the tenth percentile, $51,810 at the ninetieth.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Maine is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $33,526 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; Maine then takes its own share, leaving $32,553.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 50 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 Maine is $42,160. 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 ($35,040 to $51,810) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Maine rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Maine'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 $33,526 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 $32,553 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Maine 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 50 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.