Labor Relations Specialists in Pennsylvania
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$70,270
after federal, FICA and Pennsylvania tax
Tax takes
$21,050
23.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$72,072
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
$91,320
Kept after tax
$70,270
Worth in national money
$72,072
State rank
18
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Pennsylvania pays labor relations specialists around $91,320 at the midpoint, 18 of 51 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Within Pennsylvania this is well-paid work. Of 492 occupations with published figures in the state, labor relations specialists ranks 89 — in the top quarter of everything people do there.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $91,320, tax leaves $70,270, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $72,072 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $98,890, since top earners drag the number up.
- For labor relations specialists the Pennsylvania median is $91,320, ranking 18 of 51 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.
- Ranked against every occupation Pennsylvania publishes a median for, labor relations specialists sits 89 of 492 — the upper quartile of the state's wage distribution. National standing and within-state standing are separate questions, and a job can occupy very different positions on each.
- Because Pennsylvania sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for labor relations specialists — median $91,320 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $70,270 retained, $72,072 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $98,890 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Labor Relations Specialists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $56,400 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $91,320 |
| Top tenth earn over | $164,880 |
| This salary | $91,320 |
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 | $70,270 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $73,074 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$3,126 |
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 | $87,335 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$4,318 |
| 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 labor relations specialists in Pennsylvania earn under $91,320 and half over. The published range runs $56,400 at the tenth percentile to $164,880 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $70,270 take-home in Pennsylvania comes from $91,320. 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 89 of 492.
- One number stands for prices across all of Pennsylvania, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $72,072, the adjusted value of that $91,320 median, as a way to compare states fairly, not as a quote for any particular place. The two datasets are also from different years. This job sits at 89 of 492 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for labor relations specialists in Pennsylvania, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $56,400 to $164,880; 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 $70,270, from $91,320, 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 89 of 492 locally, and the state ranks 18 of 51 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Pennsylvania, so $72,072 — the adjusted value of that $91,320 median — establishes comparability between states rather than accuracy within one. The wage and parity series are dated independently, each following its own publication cycle, and neither is projected forward. This occupation sits at 89 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 $98,890, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $56,400 and the top tenth $164,880 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
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 $72,072.
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; Pennsylvania then takes its own share, leaving $70,270.
Can I compare this job across every state?
All 51 jurisdictions report this work, which makes the ranking a like-for-like 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 $98,890. 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 ($56,400) and the ninetieth ($164,880) 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?
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 $72,072 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 $70,270 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.
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.