Interpreters and Translators in New York
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$64,043
after federal, FICA and New York tax
Tax takes
$20,047
23.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$59,506
New York costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in New York — 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
$84,090
Kept after tax
$64,043
Worth in national money
$59,506
State rank
3
of 47 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for interpreters and translators is strong here. New York's middle earner gets $84,090, putting the state 3 of 47 — about 39.75% ahead of the national figure.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. Interpreters and translators ranks 165 among 493 occupations New York publishes pay for.
- New York is an expensive state, and the adjusted figure shows it. From $84,090 the take-home is $64,043; in national-average money that behaves like $59,506. The average comes to $86,550, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For interpreters and translators, New York sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $84,090, ranking 3 of 47 and running about 39.75% above the national midpoint. Nominal advantage of this size is usually, though not always, large enough to survive the state's own tax and price levels.
- Position 165 of 493 in New York 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.
- Take-home for interpreters and translators in New York, on $84,090, is $64,043; deflated by the state's price level, $59,506. ⚠️ The deflator is statewide, so it understates the erosion in the state's metropolitan areas and overstates it outside them. At $86,550 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
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Pay band: Interpreters and Translators
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $48,930 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $84,090 |
| Top tenth earn over | $127,350 |
| This salary | $84,090 |
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 New York | $64,043 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $67,987 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$10,458 |
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 | $78,484 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$14,446 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 108 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in New York earn less than $84,090. The published range is $48,930 up to $127,350, 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 New York's $64,043, worked from $84,090. 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 165 of 493.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $59,506 uses one figure for the whole of New York. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 493 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 165.
- Reported values are medians; for interpreters and translators in New York the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $48,930 to $127,350. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The New York take-home of $64,043, on $84,090 for work ranking 165 of 493 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 165 of 493 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $59,506, worked from $84,090, 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 New York address, on work sitting at 165 of 493 locally.
Questions people ask
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $48,930 and the top tenth $127,350 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
The number and the value are different things. New York costs more than the national average, so this take-home stretches like $59,506 rather than its face figure.
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 New York's own levy, $64,043 remains.
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.
What drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($48,930) and the ninetieth ($127,350) 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?
New York's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $59,506 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 $64,043 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and New York 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.