Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand in North Carolina
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$31,881
after federal, FICA and North Carolina tax
Tax takes
$6,349
16.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$33,866
North Carolina costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in North Carolina — 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
$38,230
Kept after tax
$31,881
Worth in national money
$33,866
State rank
39
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. North Carolina pays this job a middle wage of $38,230, 39 of 51 states and about 5% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Within North Carolina this is lower-paid work. Of 489 occupations the state publishes figures for, this job ranks 418. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $38,230 you keep $31,881 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $33,866 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $39,390, since top earners drag the number up.
- North Carolina's $38,230 median for laborers and freight, stock, and material movers, hand places it 39 of 51 states, about 5% below national. Because both the tax and price adjustments tend to favor lower-nominal states, this ranking is the least stable of the three reported here.
- Against every occupation North Carolina reports, laborers and freight, stock, and material movers, hand ranks 418 of 489, in the lowest quartile of the state's distribution. That position is set by the local labor market and is independent of how the state compares nationally for this work.
- Retained pay in North Carolina is $31,881 after the full tax stack, from $38,230. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $33,866 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $39,390 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $30,010 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $38,230 |
| Top tenth earn over | $47,590 |
| This salary | $38,230 |
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 North Carolina | $31,881 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $32,898 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$12 |
The raise and the real gain point in opposite directions here.
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 | $36,965 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$14 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 94 |
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 laborers and freight, stock, and material movers, hand in North Carolina earn under $38,230 and half over. The published range runs $30,010 at the tenth percentile to $47,590 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In North Carolina the take-home figure of $31,881, from $38,230, assumes one filer, no dependants, and nothing paid into a pension before tax. Each of those lowers the bill, so treat it as the plain case. City and school-district income taxes are not included either, and in a few states those are real money. It ranks 418 of 489 occupations here.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $33,866 uses one figure for the whole of North Carolina. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 489 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 418.
- Figures are distribution medians for laborers and freight, stock, and material movers, hand in North Carolina, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $30,010 to $47,590; 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.
- Take-home for North Carolina is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $31,881 from $38,230. Each omitted item reduces taxable income, so the figure is a lower bound on retained pay for this household shape. Municipal and school-district income taxes are excluded, which understates the burden materially in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The occupation ranks 418 of 489 locally.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $33,866, worked from $38,230, 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 North Carolina address, on work sitting at 418 of 489 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $39,390, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $30,010 and the top tenth $47,590, so most people doing this work in North Carolina sit within a fairly tight band.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. North Carolina is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $33,866 in national terms.
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 North Carolina's own levy, $31,881 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 North Carolina is $39,390. 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 ($30,010 to $47,590) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to North Carolina rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
North Carolina'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 $33,866 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 $31,881 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and North Carolina 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.