Laundry and Dry-Cleaning Workers in New York
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$29,047
after federal, FICA and New York tax
Tax takes
$6,003
17.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$26,989
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
$35,050
Kept after tax
$29,047
Worth in national money
$26,989
State rank
25
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- New York sits in the middle of the pack for laundry and dry-cleaning workers. The median is $35,050, ranking 25 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 New York, this one sits low: 490 of 493 occupations with published pay, in the bottom quarter.
- New York is an expensive state, and the adjusted figure shows it. From $35,050 the take-home is $29,047; in national-average money that behaves like $26,989. The average comes to $37,780, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- New York occupies the middle band for laundry and dry-cleaning workers: a median of $35,050, ranking 25 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 490 of 493 in New York'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.
- Take-home for laundry and dry-cleaning workers in New York, on $35,050, is $29,047; deflated by the state's price level, $26,989. ⚠️ The deflator is statewide, so it understates the erosion in the state's metropolitan areas and overstates it outside them. At $37,780 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
Choose your filing status and local taxes, compare pay, and keep a shortlist.Compare wage and personal-pay outcomes by state, with selected resident local taxes and saved career choices.
Pay band: Laundry and Dry-Cleaning Workers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $33,330 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $35,050 |
| Top tenth earn over | $45,690 |
| This salary | $35,050 |
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 | $29,047 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $30,343 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$4,236 |
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 | $33,437 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$5,123 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 108 |
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 New York earn under $35,050 and half over. The published range runs $33,330 at the tenth percentile to $45,690 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In New York the take-home figure of $29,047, from $35,050, 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 490 of 493 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $26,989, the adjusted value of that $35,050 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of New York. No actual address matches that. The wage figures and price figures are also from different years. Each is published on its own timetable. This work sits at 490 of 493 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for laundry and dry-cleaning workers in New York, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $33,330 to $45,690; 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 New York is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $29,047 from $35,050. 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 490 of 493 locally.
- This $26,989 adjusted figure, worked from $35,050, rests on a state-level price parity averaging over within-state dispersion larger than much of the between-state dispersion. Wage and price vintages differ by publication schedule. The result is directionally sound and not address-specific, for work at 490 of 493 in the state. The occupation ranks 490 of 493 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 $37,780 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $33,330 at the tenth percentile, $45,690 at the ninetieth.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
Not on its own. Prices in New York run above the national level, so the same dollars buy less here. Adjusted for that, this pay is worth $26,989 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.
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, $29,047 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 New York is $37,780. 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 ($33,330 to $45,690) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to New York rather than a national figure.
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 $26,989 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 $29,047 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.
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.