Helpers--Installation, Maintenance, and Repair Workers in Pennsylvania
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$34,251
after federal, FICA and Pennsylvania tax
Tax takes
$7,249
17.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$35,129
Pennsylvania costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Pennsylvania — 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
$41,500
Kept after tax
$34,251
Worth in national money
$35,129
State rank
21
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Pennsylvania pays this job around $41,500 at the midpoint, 21 of 50 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Against 492 occupations Pennsylvania publishes, this job lands at 408. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $41,500, tax leaves $34,251, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $35,129 in comparable terms. Here the average runs under the middle, at $41,280.
- For helpers--installation, maintenance, and repair workers the Pennsylvania median is $41,500, ranking 21 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 Pennsylvania, this work ranks 408 of 492 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 Pennsylvania sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for helpers--installation, maintenance, and repair workers — median $41,500 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $34,251 retained, $35,129 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $41,280 sits under the median, so the lower tail is the longer one.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Helpers--Installation, Maintenance, and Repair Workers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $26,940 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $41,500 |
| Top tenth earn over | $55,580 |
| This salary | $41,500 |
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 Pennsylvania | $34,251 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $35,525 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$1,429 |
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 | $39,914 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$1,728 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 98 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $41,500 as a midpoint for Pennsylvania, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $26,940 and the ninetieth is $55,580 — 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 Pennsylvania's $34,251, worked from $41,500. 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 408 of 492.
- Two cautions on $35,129, the adjusted value of that $41,500 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Pennsylvania. 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 408 of 492 locally.
- The Pennsylvania median of $41,500 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $26,940 to $55,580. 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 Pennsylvania take-home of $34,251, on $41,500 for work ranking 408 of 492 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 408 of 492 in the state.
- This $35,129 adjusted figure, worked from $41,500, 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 408 of 492 in the state. The occupation ranks 408 of 492 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $26,940 and the top tenth $55,580, so most people doing this work in Pennsylvania sit within a fairly tight band.
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 $35,129.
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 Pennsylvania's own levy, $34,251 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 50 states here, and a missing state means too few reports, not no jobs.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($26,940 to $55,580) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Pennsylvania rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Pennsylvania'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 $35,129 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 $34,251 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Pennsylvania 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.