Mail Clerks and Mail Machine Operators, Except Postal Service in Maine
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$36,458
after federal, FICA and Maine tax
Tax takes
$8,322
18.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$37,548
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
$44,780
Kept after tax
$36,458
Worth in national money
$37,548
State rank
7
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. Maine pays this job a middle wage of $44,780, ranking 7 of 50 states and sitting about 14% above the national middle.
- Against 484 occupations Maine publishes, this job lands at 403. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $44,780, tax leaves $36,458, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $37,548 in comparable terms. Here the average runs under the middle, at $44,480.
- Maine's median for mail clerks and mail machine operators, except postal service is $44,780, about 14% above the national figure and 7 of 50 states reporting. Whether that premium reaches the worker depends on the two adjustments below, which is the part a wage table cannot tell you.
- Within Maine, this work ranks 403 of 484 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 Maine sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for mail clerks and mail machine operators, except postal service — median $44,780 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $36,458 retained, $37,548 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $44,480 sits under the median, so the lower tail is the longer one.
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Pay band: Mail Clerks and Mail Machine Operators, Except Postal Service
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $37,490 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $44,780 |
| Top tenth earn over | $49,840 |
| This salary | $44,780 |
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 | $36,458 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $38,161 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$1,722 |
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 | $42,661 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$2,083 |
| 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 mail clerks and mail machine operators, except postal service in Maine earn under $44,780 and half over. The published range runs $37,490 at the tenth percentile to $49,840 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $36,458 take-home in Maine comes from $44,780. 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 403 of 484.
- One number stands for prices across all of Maine, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $37,548, the adjusted value of that $44,780 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 403 of 484 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for mail clerks and mail machine operators, except postal service in Maine, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $37,490 to $49,840; 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 $36,458, from $44,780, 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 403 of 484 locally, and the state ranks 7 of 50 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Maine, so $37,548 — the adjusted value of that $44,780 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 403 of 484 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $37,490 and the top tenth $49,840, so most people doing this work in Maine sit within a fairly tight band.
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 $37,548 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 $36,458.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 50 states here, and a missing state means too few reports, not no jobs.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($37,490 to $49,840) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Maine rather than a national figure.
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 $37,548 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 $36,458 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.