Life, Physical, and Social Science Technicians, All Other in North Carolina
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$40,258
after federal, FICA and North Carolina tax
Tax takes
$8,942
18.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$42,764
North Carolina costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in North Carolina — 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
$49,200
Kept after tax
$40,258
Worth in national money
$42,764
State rank
46
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- North Carolina is among the lower-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $49,200, ranking 46 of 50 states — about 21% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
- Against other work in North Carolina, this sits in the middle: 290 of 489 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Here is where North Carolina does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $49,200 you keep $40,258, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $42,764 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $63,360, because the best-paid pull it up.
- North Carolina ranks 46 of 50 for life, physical, and social science technicians, all other, with a median of $49,200 — about 21% below the national figure. A nominal shortfall is not by itself a real one: lower-paying states frequently carry lower tax and lower price levels, and the adjusted figures below are where that is settled rather than assumed.
- Life, physical, and social science technicians, all other ranks 290 of 489 occupations in North Carolina by median pay, in the middle bands. Within-state and national positions are separate measurements and a job commonly sits in different quartiles on each.
- After federal, FICA and North Carolina income tax, retained pay for life, physical, and social science technicians, all other on $49,200 is $40,258. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $42,764 in national-average terms. ⚠️ That figure is purchasing power, not a wage, and nobody is paid it; it is what the take-home buys. The mean of $63,360 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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Pay band: Life, Physical, and Social Science Technicians, All Other
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $47,720 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $49,200 |
| Top tenth earn over | $99,940 |
| This salary | $49,200 |
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 North Carolina | $40,258 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $41,712 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$161 |
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 | $47,390 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$194 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 94 |
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 North Carolina earn under $49,200 and half over. The published range runs $47,720 at the tenth percentile to $99,940 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind North Carolina's $40,258, worked from $49,200. That is on purpose. It lets states be compared with each other, not with each other's family circumstances. Local city taxes are left out. Locally this work ranks 290 of 489.
- Two cautions on $42,764, the adjusted value of that $49,200 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of North Carolina. 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 290 of 489 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for life, physical, and social science technicians, all other in North Carolina, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $47,720 to $99,940; 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.
- The North Carolina take-home of $40,258, on $49,200 for work ranking 290 of 489 locally, models the simplest household deliberately: holding it constant is what makes the interstate comparison meaningful. It also means the absolute figure overstates liability for most real filers, and municipal income taxes are outside the model entirely. The occupation ranks 290 of 489 in the state.
- This $42,764 adjusted figure, worked from $49,200, 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 290 of 489 in the state. The occupation ranks 290 of 489 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $63,360, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $47,720, the highest tenth $99,940, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in North Carolina sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $42,764 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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 North Carolina's own levy, $40,258 remains.
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 North Carolina is $63,360. 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 ($47,720) and the ninetieth ($99,940) 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?
North Carolina'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 $42,764 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 $40,258 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and North Carolina 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.