Librarians and Media Collections Specialists in New York
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$60,471
after federal, FICA and New York tax
Tax takes
$18,119
23.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$56,186
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
$78,590
Kept after tax
$60,471
Worth in national money
$56,186
State rank
8
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is strong here. New York's middle earner gets $78,590, putting the state 8 of 51 — about 15.12% ahead of the national figure.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 493 occupations New York reports figures for, this is number 196.
- New York is an expensive state, and the adjusted figure shows it. From $78,590 the take-home is $60,471; in national-average money that behaves like $56,186. The average comes to $84,890, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For librarians and media collections specialists, New York sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $78,590, ranking 8 of 51 and running about 15.12% 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.
- In New York's occupational distribution, librarians and media collections specialists sits at 196 of 493 — neither quartile. This local position is what a resident compares against, and it is determined by the state's own labor market rather than by national patterns for this occupation.
- Take-home for librarians and media collections specialists in New York, on $78,590, is $60,471; deflated by the state's price level, $56,186. ⚠️ The deflator is statewide, so it understates the erosion in the state's metropolitan areas and overstates it outside them. At $84,890 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: Librarians and Media Collections Specialists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $52,340 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $78,590 |
| Top tenth earn over | $129,970 |
| This salary | $78,590 |
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 | $60,471 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $64,118 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$9,796 |
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 | $73,406 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$13,351 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 108 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $78,590 as a midpoint for New York, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $52,340 and the ninetieth is $129,970 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In New York the take-home figure of $60,471, from $78,590, 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 196 of 493 occupations here.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $56,186 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 196.
- The New York median of $78,590 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $52,340 to $129,970. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Take-home for New York is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $60,471 from $78,590. 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 196 of 493 locally.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $56,186, worked from $78,590, 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 196 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 $84,890 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
The label is broader than the work. From $52,340 at the bottom tenth to $129,970 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
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 $56,186 — 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, $60,471 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 $84,890. 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 ($52,340) and the ninetieth ($129,970) 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 $56,186 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 $60,471 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.