Helpers--Pipelayers, Plumbers, Pipefitters, and Steamfitters in Pennsylvania
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$34,754
after federal, FICA and Pennsylvania tax
Tax takes
$7,396
17.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$35,645
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
$42,150
Kept after tax
$34,754
Worth in national money
$35,645
State rank
24
of 48 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Pennsylvania pays this job around $42,150 at the midpoint, 24 of 48 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Against 492 occupations Pennsylvania publishes, this job lands at 404. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $42,150, tax leaves $34,754, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $35,645 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $43,310, since top earners drag the number up.
- For helpers--pipelayers, plumbers, pipefitters, and steamfitters the Pennsylvania median is $42,150, ranking 24 of 48 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 404 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--pipelayers, plumbers, pipefitters, and steamfitters — median $42,150 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $34,754 retained, $35,645 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $43,310 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Helpers--Pipelayers, Plumbers, Pipefitters, and Steamfitters
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $36,240 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $42,150 |
| Top tenth earn over | $51,370 |
| This salary | $42,150 |
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 | $34,754 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $36,048 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$1,451 |
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 | $40,540 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$1,755 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 98 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $42,150 as a midpoint for Pennsylvania, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $36,240 and the ninetieth is $51,370 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In Pennsylvania the take-home figure of $34,754, from $42,150, 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 404 of 492 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $35,645, the adjusted value of that $42,150 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 404 of 492 locally.
- The Pennsylvania median of $42,150 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $36,240 to $51,370. 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 Pennsylvania is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $34,754 from $42,150. 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 404 of 492 locally.
- This $35,645 adjusted figure, worked from $42,150, 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 404 of 492 in the state. The occupation ranks 404 of 492 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $36,240 at the tenth percentile, $51,370 at the ninetieth.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Pennsylvania is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $35,645 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 Pennsylvania's own levy, $34,754 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 48 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 ($36,240 to $51,370) 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 $35,645 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 $34,754 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 48 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.