Library Assistants, Clerical in Alaska
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$38,177
after federal, FICA and Alaska tax
Tax takes
$6,623
14.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$37,533
Alaska costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Alaska — 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
$44,800
Kept after tax
$38,177
Worth in national money
$37,533
State rank
6
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Alaska is one of the better-paying states for library assistants, clerical. The middle earner takes $44,800, which ranks 6 of 50 states with published figures. That is about 21.38% above the national middle.
- Against 430 occupations Alaska publishes, library assistants, clerical lands at 369. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $44,800, tax leaves $38,177, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $37,533 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $46,590, since top earners drag the number up.
- Alaska ranks 6 of 50 states publishing a median for library assistants, clerical, at $44,800 — about 21.38% above the national median. A state's position on nominal pay is the figure wage tables report and the least informative of the three on this page, because it survives neither the tax adjustment nor the price adjustment intact for most occupations.
- Within Alaska, this work ranks 369 of 430 occupations by median pay, in the bottom quartile. The within-state position is the more salient one for anyone weighing this job against alternatives available to them locally.
- Because Alaska sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for library assistants, clerical — median $44,800 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $38,177 retained, $37,533 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $46,590 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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: Library Assistants, Clerical
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $32,130 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $44,800 |
| Top tenth earn over | $62,890 |
| This salary | $44,800 |
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 Alaska | $38,177 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $38,177 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$1,754 |
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 | $44,800 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$2,121 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 102 |
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 library assistants, clerical in Alaska earn under $44,800 and half over. The published range runs $32,130 at the tenth percentile to $62,890 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $38,177 take-home in Alaska comes from $44,800. 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 369 of 430.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $37,533 uses one figure for the whole of Alaska. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 430 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 369.
- Figures are distribution medians for library assistants, clerical in Alaska, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $32,130 to $62,890; 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 $38,177, from $44,800, assumes a single Alaska 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 369 of 430 locally, and the state ranks 6 of 50 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $37,533, worked from $44,800, 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 Alaska address, on work sitting at 369 of 430 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $46,590, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $32,130 at the bottom tenth to $62,890 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
The number and the value are different things. Alaska costs more than the national average, so this take-home stretches like $37,533 rather than its face figure.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Less than people assume. $38,177 of this wage reaches your account, because Alaska takes no income tax from wages — but federal tax, Social Security and Medicare still apply exactly as they do everywhere else.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 50 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release one.
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 Alaska is $46,590. 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 ($32,130 to $62,890) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Alaska rather than a national figure.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
Alaska's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $37,533 in national-average terms. ⚠️ RPPs are an all-items index; housing parities vary far more widely than the headline figure.
Why is the take-home ratio comparatively high in this state?
Alaska levies no personal income tax on wages, so take-home of $38,177 reflects the federal layer and FICA alone. Federal income tax and FICA are unchanged; states without a wage income tax generally recover revenue through consumption and property bases instead.
Why does this occupation lack published estimates in every state?
BLS suppresses estimates failing disclosure or reliability criteria. This occupation has published state-level estimates in 50 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.