Laundry and Dry-Cleaning Workers in Hawaii
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$29,502
after federal, FICA and Hawaii tax
Tax takes
$6,188
17.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$27,163
Hawaii costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Hawaii — 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
$35,690
Kept after tax
$29,502
Worth in national money
$27,163
State rank
20
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Hawaii sits in the middle of the pack for laundry and dry-cleaning workers. The median is $35,690, ranking 20 of 51 states with figures. Close enough to the national middle that where you live matters more than the headline suggests.
- Measured against other jobs in Hawaii, this one sits low: 427 of 437 occupations with published pay, in the bottom quarter.
- Costs eat into it here. Of $35,690, tax leaves $29,502 — and because Hawaii is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $27,163 would nationally. Averages run higher here, $39,050, since top earners drag the number up.
- Hawaii occupies the middle band for laundry and dry-cleaning workers: a median of $35,690, ranking 20 of 51. Where nominal pay is close to the national figure, the tax and price adjustments below carry proportionally more weight in determining the real outcome.
- Laundry and dry-cleaning workers occupies position 427 of 437 in Hawaii's occupational wage distribution, in the bottom quartile. National ranking and local ranking answer different questions and frequently disagree; this is the one a resident experiences.
- After tax, $29,502 remains from the Hawaii median of $35,690 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $27,163 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $39,050 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Laundry and Dry-Cleaning Workers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $30,310 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $35,690 |
| Top tenth earn over | $55,730 |
| This salary | $35,690 |
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 Hawaii | $29,502 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $30,857 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$4,590 |
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 | $34,004 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$5,552 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 109 |
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 laundry and dry-cleaning workers in Hawaii earn under $35,690 and half over. The published range runs $30,310 at the tenth percentile to $55,730 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $29,502 take-home in Hawaii comes from $35,690. 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 427 of 437.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $27,163 uses one figure for the whole of Hawaii. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 437 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 427.
- Figures are distribution medians for laundry and dry-cleaning workers in Hawaii, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $30,310 to $55,730; 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 $29,502, from $35,690, assumes a single Hawaii 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 427 of 437 locally, and the state ranks 20 of 51 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $27,163, worked from $35,690, 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 Hawaii address, on work sitting at 427 of 437 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 $39,050 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $30,310 at the bottom tenth to $55,730 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
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 $27,163 of national purchasing power.
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 Hawaii's own levy, $29,502 remains.
Can I compare this job across every state?
Yes for this one. Pay is published in all 51 jurisdictions, so a state-to-state comparison here rests on the same survey everywhere rather than on a patchwork.
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 Hawaii is $39,050. 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 ($30,310 to $55,730) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Hawaii rather than a national figure.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
Hawaii's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $27,163 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 $29,502 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Hawaii 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.