Highway Maintenance Workers in Pennsylvania
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$39,035
after federal, FICA and Pennsylvania tax
Tax takes
$8,655
18.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$40,036
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
$47,690
Kept after tax
$39,035
Worth in national money
$40,036
State rank
35
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pennsylvania is among the lower-paying states for highway maintenance workers. The middle earner takes $47,690, ranking 35 of 49 states — about 5.11% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 492 occupations Pennsylvania reports figures for, this is number 343.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $47,690 the take-home is $39,035, which is worth about $40,036 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is higher, $50,060, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Pennsylvania ranks 35 of 49 for highway maintenance workers, with a median of $47,690 — about 5.11% below the national figure. A nominal shortfall is not by itself a real one: lower-paying states frequently carry lower tax and lower price levels, and the adjusted figures below are where that is settled rather than assumed.
- In Pennsylvania's occupational distribution, highway maintenance workers sits at 343 of 492 — 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.
- Pennsylvania's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for highway maintenance workers on its $47,690 median: $39,035 retained after tax becomes $40,036 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $50,060 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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Pay band: Highway Maintenance Workers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $36,830 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $47,690 |
| Top tenth earn over | $66,050 |
| This salary | $47,690 |
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 | $39,035 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $40,499 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$1,641 |
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 | $45,868 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$1,984 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 98 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $47,690 as a midpoint for Pennsylvania, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $36,830 and the ninetieth is $66,050 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $39,035 take-home in Pennsylvania comes from $47,690. It is the no-frills case: single filer, standard deduction, nothing set aside before tax. Real circumstances almost always reduce the tax. City and school-district taxes are not counted at all. Locally the work ranks 343 of 492.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $40,036 uses one figure for the whole of Pennsylvania. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 492 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 343.
- The Pennsylvania median of $47,690 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $36,830 to $66,050. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Retained pay of $39,035, from $47,690, assumes a single Pennsylvania filer with the standard deduction and no elective deferrals. Pre-tax retirement or HSA contributions, dependants and itemized deductions all reduce it further; local income taxes, excluded here, would increase it in the states that levy them. This occupation ranks 343 of 492 locally, and the state ranks 35 of 49 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $40,036, worked from $47,690, deflates by a statewide parity that conceals substantial intra-state variation, concentrated in housing — so it supports comparison between states rather than the pricing of a move to a particular Pennsylvania address, on work sitting at 343 of 492 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
No — it is the middle. Half of these workers earn more and half earn less. The average is $50,060, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $36,830 and the top tenth $66,050, 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 $40,036.
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 Pennsylvania adds its own income tax on top — which is why $39,035 of this wage survives to your account.
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.
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 Pennsylvania is $50,060. 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 ($36,830 to $66,050) 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 $40,036 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 $39,035 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 49 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.