Industrial Engineers in Maine
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$74,323
after federal, FICA and Maine tax
Tax takes
$26,707
26.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$76,545
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
$101,030
Kept after tax
$74,323
Worth in national money
$76,545
State rank
31
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Maine sits in the middle of the pack for industrial engineers. The median is $101,030, ranking 31 of 51 states with figures. Close enough to the national middle that where you live matters more than the headline suggests.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in Maine. It ranks 55 out of 484 occupations the state publishes figures for, which puts it in the top quarter locally.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $101,030 the take-home is $74,323, which is worth about $76,545 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is higher, $112,650, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Maine occupies the middle band for industrial engineers: a median of $101,030, ranking 31 of 51. Where nominal pay is close to the national figure, the tax and price adjustments below carry proportionally more weight in determining the real outcome.
- Within Maine, industrial engineers ranks 55 of 484 occupations by median pay, placing it in the top quartile of the local distribution. This is the comparison a resident actually makes — against neighbors rather than against the same job elsewhere.
- Maine's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for industrial engineers on its $101,030 median: $74,323 retained after tax becomes $76,545 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $112,650 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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Pay band: Industrial Engineers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $76,490 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $101,030 |
| Top tenth earn over | $170,060 |
| This salary | $101,030 |
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 | $74,323 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $79,905 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$5,682 |
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 | $93,096 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$7,849 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 97 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Maine earn less than $101,030. The published range is $76,490 up to $170,060, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Maine's $74,323, worked from $101,030. 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 55 of 484.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $76,545 uses one figure for the whole of Maine. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 484 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 55.
- Reported values are medians; for industrial engineers in Maine the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $76,490 to $170,060. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The Maine take-home of $74,323, on $101,030 for work ranking 55 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 55 of 484 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $76,545, worked from $101,030, 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 Maine address, on work sitting at 55 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 $112,650 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $76,490, the highest tenth $170,060, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
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 $76,545.
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, $74,323 remains.
Can I compare this job across every state?
This occupation is published everywhere — all 51 of them — so comparing states measures real differences rather than gaps in the data.
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 $112,650. 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 drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($76,490) and the ninetieth ($170,060) exceeds the family median dispersion. SOC codes aggregate roles differing in seniority, industry and specialisation, and BLS does not disaggregate below the detailed occupation level, so within-title variance is not separable from the published series.
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 $76,545 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 $74,323 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.
Is this occupation's state coverage complete?
State-level estimates are published for all 51 jurisdictions for this occupation, so cross-state comparison is not confounded by suppression. ⚠️ Estimates remain survey-based and carry sampling error; small differences between adjacent states should not be over-read.