Light Truck Drivers in Florida
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$35,774
after federal, FICA and Florida tax
Tax takes
$6,036
14.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$34,581
Florida costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Florida — 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
$41,810
Kept after tax
$35,774
Worth in national money
$34,581
State rank
43
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Florida is among the lower-paying states for light truck drivers. The middle earner takes $41,810, ranking 43 of 51 states — about 6.8% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
- Measured against other jobs in Florida, this one sits low: 380 of 493 occupations with published pay, in the bottom quarter.
- The wage here flatters the reality. From $41,810 the take-home is $35,774. But Florida costs more than the national average, so that money behaves more like $34,581 would elsewhere. Worth knowing before comparing offers across states. The average is higher, $44,580, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Florida ranks 43 of 51 for light truck drivers, with a median of $41,810 — about 6.8% 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.
- Light truck drivers occupies position 380 of 493 in Florida's occupational wage distribution, in the bottom quartile. National ranking and local ranking answer different questions and frequently disagree; this is the one a resident experiences.
- Retained pay after federal, FICA and Florida income tax is $35,774 for light truck drivers, from $41,810. The state's price level exceeds the national average, so the price-adjusted equivalent is $34,581. ⚠️ This is purchasing power and not a wage; cross-state offer comparisons that stop at the nominal figure systematically overvalue high-cost states. The mean of $44,580 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Light Truck Drivers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $29,880 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $41,810 |
| Top tenth earn over | $62,330 |
| This salary | $41,810 |
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 Florida | $35,774 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $35,774 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$2,234 |
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 | $41,810 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$2,701 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 103 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $41,810 as a midpoint for Florida, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $29,880 and the ninetieth is $62,330 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $35,774 take-home in Florida comes from $41,810. 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 380 of 493.
- One number stands for prices across all of Florida, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $34,581, the adjusted value of that $41,810 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 380 of 493 in the state.
- The Florida median of $41,810 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $29,880 to $62,330. 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 $35,774, from $41,810, assumes a single Florida 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 380 of 493 locally, and the state ranks 43 of 51 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Florida, so $34,581 — the adjusted value of that $41,810 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 380 of 493 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 $44,580, 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?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $29,880 and the top tenth $62,330 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
The number and the value are different things. Florida costs more than the national average, so this take-home stretches like $34,581 rather than its face figure.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Less than people assume. $35,774 of this wage reaches your account, because Florida takes no income tax from wages — but federal tax, Social Security and Medicare still apply exactly as they do everywhere else.
Can I compare this job across every state?
This occupation is published everywhere — all 51 of them — so comparing states measures real differences rather than gaps in the data.
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 Florida is $44,580. 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 ($29,880) and the ninetieth ($62,330) 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.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
Florida's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $34,581 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?
Florida levies no personal income tax on wages, so take-home of $35,774 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.
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.