Highway Maintenance Workers in Maine
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$39,586
after federal, FICA and Maine tax
Tax takes
$9,444
19.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$40,770
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
$49,030
Kept after tax
$39,586
Worth in national money
$40,770
State rank
26
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. Maine is 26 of 49 states for highway maintenance workers, with a middle wage of $49,030. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 484 occupations Maine reports figures for, this is number 321.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $49,030 the take-home is $39,586, which is worth about $40,770 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is higher, $49,300, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Maine ranks 26 of 49 for highway maintenance workers at $49,030. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- In Maine's occupational distribution, highway maintenance workers sits at 321 of 484 — neither quartile. This local position is what a resident compares against, and it is determined by the state's own labor market rather than by national patterns for this occupation.
- Maine's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for highway maintenance workers on its $49,030 median: $39,586 retained after tax becomes $40,770 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $49,300 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Highway Maintenance Workers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $37,040 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $49,030 |
| Top tenth earn over | $60,320 |
| This salary | $49,030 |
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 | $39,586 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $41,576 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$2,015 |
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 | $46,554 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$2,436 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 97 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $49,030 as a midpoint for Maine, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $37,040 and the ninetieth is $60,320 — 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 Maine's $39,586, worked from $49,030. 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 321 of 484.
- Two cautions on $40,770, the adjusted value of that $49,030 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Maine. 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 321 of 484 locally.
- The Maine median of $49,030 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $37,040 to $60,320. 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 Maine take-home of $39,586, on $49,030 for work ranking 321 of 484 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 321 of 484 in the state.
- This $40,770 adjusted figure, worked from $49,030, 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 321 of 484 in the state. The occupation ranks 321 of 484 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $37,040 at the tenth percentile, $60,320 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 $40,770 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 Maine's own levy, $39,586 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 49 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release one.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($37,040 to $60,320) 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 $40,770 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 $39,586 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 49 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.