Life, Physical, and Social Science Technicians, All Other in Maine
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$52,590
after federal, FICA and Maine tax
Tax takes
$14,140
21.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$54,163
Maine costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Maine — 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
$66,730
Kept after tax
$52,590
Worth in national money
$54,163
State rank
12
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is strong here. Maine's middle earner gets $66,730, putting the state 12 of 50 — about 7.15% ahead of the national figure.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 174 among 484 occupations Maine publishes pay for.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $66,730, tax leaves $52,590, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $54,163 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $74,260, since top earners drag the number up.
- For life, physical, and social science technicians, all other, Maine sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $66,730, ranking 12 of 50 and running about 7.15% 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.
- Position 174 of 484 in Maine places life, physical, and social science technicians, all other in the middle of the state's wage distribution. Because within-state and cross-state rankings measure different things, this figure and the national one above should be read together rather than as a single verdict.
- Because Maine sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for life, physical, and social science technicians, all other — median $66,730 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $52,590 retained, $54,163 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $74,260 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Life, Physical, and Social Science Technicians, All Other
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $45,950 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $66,730 |
| Top tenth earn over | $110,410 |
| This salary | $66,730 |
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 Maine | $52,590 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $55,775 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$3,233 |
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 | $62,738 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$3,939 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 97 |
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 life, physical, and social science technicians, all other in Maine earn under $66,730 and half over. The published range runs $45,950 at the tenth percentile to $110,410 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $52,590 take-home in Maine comes from $66,730. 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 174 of 484.
- One number stands for prices across all of Maine, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $54,163, the adjusted value of that $66,730 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 174 of 484 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for life, physical, and social science technicians, all other in Maine, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $45,950 to $110,410; 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 $52,590, from $66,730, assumes a single Maine 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 174 of 484 locally, and the state ranks 12 of 50 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Maine, so $54,163 — the adjusted value of that $66,730 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 174 of 484 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 $74,260 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?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $45,950 and the top tenth $110,410 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Maine is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $54,163 in national terms.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Four deductions, stacked. The federal layer and the two payroll taxes apply wherever you work; Maine then takes its own share, leaving $52,590.
Why is this job missing from some states?
Because the survey suppresses a figure when too few employers report it. This occupation has published pay in 50 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
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 Maine is $74,260. 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 ($45,950) and the ninetieth ($110,410) 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?
Maine'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 $54,163 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 $52,590 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Maine 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.
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.