Life, Physical, and Social Science Technicians, All Other in Pennsylvania
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$46,755
after federal, FICA and Pennsylvania tax
Tax takes
$10,925
18.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$47,954
Pennsylvania costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Pennsylvania — 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
$57,680
Kept after tax
$46,755
Worth in national money
$47,954
State rank
33
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Pennsylvania pays this job around $57,680 at the midpoint, 33 of 50 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 492 occupations Pennsylvania reports figures for, this is number 260.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $57,680, tax leaves $46,755, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $47,954 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $62,400, since top earners drag the number up.
- For life, physical, and social science technicians, all other the Pennsylvania median is $57,680, ranking 33 of 50 states reporting. Mid-band nominal positions are the ones most frequently reordered by the adjustments, because no large wage premium exists to absorb a state's tax or price level.
- In Pennsylvania's occupational distribution, life, physical, and social science technicians, all other sits at 260 of 492 — 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.
- Because Pennsylvania sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for life, physical, and social science technicians, all other — median $57,680 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $46,755 retained, $47,954 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $62,400 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 | $41,810 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $57,680 |
| Top tenth earn over | $92,810 |
| This salary | $57,680 |
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 Pennsylvania | $46,755 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $48,526 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$1,983 |
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 | $55,476 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$2,398 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 98 |
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 Pennsylvania earn under $57,680 and half over. The published range runs $41,810 at the tenth percentile to $92,810 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 Pennsylvania's $46,755, worked from $57,680. 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 260 of 492.
- Two cautions on $47,954, the adjusted value of that $57,680 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Pennsylvania. 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 260 of 492 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for life, physical, and social science technicians, all other in Pennsylvania, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $41,810 to $92,810; 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 Pennsylvania take-home of $46,755, on $57,680 for work ranking 260 of 492 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 260 of 492 in the state.
- This $47,954 adjusted figure, worked from $57,680, 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 260 of 492 in the state. The occupation ranks 260 of 492 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $62,400, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
The label is broader than the work. From $41,810 at the bottom tenth to $92,810 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 $47,954.
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 Pennsylvania's own levy, $46,755 remains.
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 Pennsylvania is $62,400. 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 ($41,810) and the ninetieth ($92,810) 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?
Pennsylvania'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 $47,954 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 $46,755 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Pennsylvania 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.