Interpreters and Translators in Arizona
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$41,624
after federal, FICA and Arizona tax
Tax takes
$8,526
17.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$41,169
Arizona costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Arizona — 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
$50,150
Kept after tax
$41,624
Worth in national money
$41,169
State rank
34
of 47 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for interpreters and translators is on the low side in Arizona. The middle earner gets $50,150. That is 34 of 47 states, and about 16.65% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. Interpreters and translators ranks 299 among 491 occupations Arizona publishes pay for.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $50,150, tax leaves $41,624, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $41,169 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $55,700, since top earners drag the number up.
- For interpreters and translators, Arizona sits in the lower band at $50,150, ranking 34 of 47 and trailing the national median by about 16.65%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Position 299 of 491 in Arizona places interpreters and translators 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.
- Because Arizona sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for interpreters and translators — median $50,150 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $41,624 retained, $41,169 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $55,700 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Interpreters and Translators
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $32,280 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $50,150 |
| Top tenth earn over | $99,070 |
| This salary | $50,150 |
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 Arizona | $41,624 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $42,476 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$2,541 |
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 | $49,091 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$3,073 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 101 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Arizona earn less than $50,150. The published range is $32,280 up to $99,070, 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 Arizona's $41,624, worked from $50,150. 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 299 of 491.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $41,169 uses one figure for the whole of Arizona. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 491 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 299.
- Reported values are medians; for interpreters and translators in Arizona the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $32,280 to $99,070. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The Arizona take-home of $41,624, on $50,150 for work ranking 299 of 491 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 299 of 491 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $41,169, worked from $50,150, 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 Arizona address, on work sitting at 299 of 491 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 $55,700 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?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $32,280 and the top tenth $99,070 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
A larger wage in a dearer place is not automatically more. Adjusted for local prices, this pay behaves like $41,169 of national purchasing power.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Four deductions, stacked. The federal layer and the two payroll taxes apply wherever you work; Arizona then takes its own share, leaving $41,624.
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 47 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 Arizona is $55,700. 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 ($32,280) and the ninetieth ($99,070) 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.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
Arizona's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $41,169 in national-average terms. ⚠️ RPPs are an all-items index; housing parities vary far more widely than the headline figure.
What accounts for the gap between gross wage and take-home here?
Take-home of $41,624 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Arizona 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 47 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.