Insulation Workers, Floor, Ceiling, and Wall in Pennsylvania
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$41,284
after federal, FICA and Pennsylvania tax
Tax takes
$9,316
18.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$42,342
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
$50,600
Kept after tax
$41,284
Worth in national money
$42,342
State rank
20
of 48 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Pennsylvania pays this job around $50,600 at the midpoint, 20 of 48 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 309 among 492 occupations Pennsylvania publishes pay for.
- No great distortion either way. Pennsylvania costs about what the country costs, so from $50,600, take-home of $41,284 is worth roughly $42,342 in national money. The average comes to $54,660, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For insulation workers, floor, ceiling, and wall the Pennsylvania median is $50,600, ranking 20 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.
- Position 309 of 492 in Pennsylvania places insulation workers, floor, ceiling, and wall in the middle of the state's wage distribution. Because within-state and cross-state rankings measure different things, this figure and the national one above should be read together rather than as a single verdict.
- Price parity in Pennsylvania is near the national base, so for insulation workers, floor, ceiling, and wall, whose median is $50,600, the adjusted figure of $42,342 differs little from $41,284 retained after tax. The state's position for this occupation is therefore set by wage and tax rather than by living costs. At $54,660 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
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Pay band: Insulation Workers, Floor, Ceiling, and Wall
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $38,330 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $50,600 |
| Top tenth earn over | $73,580 |
| This salary | $50,600 |
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 | $41,284 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $42,837 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$1,740 |
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 | $48,667 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$2,105 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 98 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- A median is the middle, not an offer. Half of insulation workers, floor, ceiling, and wall in Pennsylvania earn under $50,600 and half over. The published range runs $38,330 at the tenth percentile to $73,580 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $41,284 take-home in Pennsylvania comes from $50,600. 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 309 of 492.
- Two cautions on $42,342, the adjusted value of that $50,600 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 309 of 492 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for insulation workers, floor, ceiling, and wall in Pennsylvania, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $38,330 to $73,580; within-state dispersion of that width routinely exceeds the dispersion between states, so tenure, employer and metropolitan area predict an individual's pay better than geography does.
- Retained pay of $41,284, from $50,600, 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 309 of 492 locally, and the state ranks 20 of 48 for it.
- This $42,342 adjusted figure, worked from $50,600, 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 309 of 492 in the state. The occupation ranks 309 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 $54,660, 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?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $38,330 at the tenth percentile, $73,580 at the ninetieth.
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 $42,342.
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 $41,284 of this wage survives to your account.
Why is this job missing from some states?
Because the survey suppresses a figure when too few employers report it. This occupation has published pay in 48 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
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 $54,660. 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 ($38,330 to $73,580) 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 $42,342 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 $41,284 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.