Librarians and Media Collections Specialists in Utah
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$42,961
after federal, FICA and Utah tax
Tax takes
$10,769
20.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$45,221
Utah costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Utah — 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
$53,730
Kept after tax
$42,961
Worth in national money
$45,221
State rank
47
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Utah pays this job a middle wage of $53,730, 47 of 51 states and about 21.3% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 487 occupations Utah reports figures for, this is number 272.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $53,730 you keep $42,961 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $45,221 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $61,500, since top earners drag the number up.
- Utah's $53,730 median for librarians and media collections specialists places it 47 of 51 states, about 21.3% 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.
- In Utah's occupational distribution, librarians and media collections specialists sits at 272 of 487 — 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.
- Retained pay in Utah is $42,961 after the full tax stack, from $53,730. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $45,221 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $61,500 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Librarians and Media Collections Specialists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $35,810 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $53,730 |
| Top tenth earn over | $99,890 |
| This salary | $53,730 |
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 Utah | $42,961 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $45,352 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$1,449 |
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 | $50,754 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$1,753 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 95 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $53,730 as a midpoint for Utah, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $35,810 and the ninetieth is $99,890 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $42,961 take-home in Utah comes from $53,730. 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 272 of 487.
- One number stands for prices across all of Utah, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $45,221, the adjusted value of that $53,730 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 272 of 487 in the state.
- The Utah median of $53,730 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $35,810 to $99,890. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Retained pay of $42,961, from $53,730, assumes a single Utah 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 272 of 487 locally, and the state ranks 47 of 51 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Utah, so $45,221 — the adjusted value of that $53,730 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 272 of 487 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 $61,500, 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?
The label is broader than the work. From $35,810 at the bottom tenth to $99,890 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
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 $45,221.
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 Utah's own levy, $42,961 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 Utah is $61,500. 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 ($35,810) and the ninetieth ($99,890) 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?
Utah'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 $45,221 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 $42,961 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Utah 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.