Mail Clerks and Mail Machine Operators, Except Postal Service in Oklahoma
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$30,502
after federal, FICA and Oklahoma tax
Tax takes
$6,178
16.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$34,549
Oklahoma costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Oklahoma — 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
$36,680
Kept after tax
$30,502
Worth in national money
$34,549
State rank
40
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Oklahoma pays this job a middle wage of $36,680, 40 of 50 states and about 6.62% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Within Oklahoma this is lower-paid work. Of 492 occupations the state publishes figures for, this job ranks 412. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $36,680 you keep $30,502 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $34,549 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $37,400, since top earners drag the number up.
- Oklahoma's $36,680 median for mail clerks and mail machine operators, except postal service places it 40 of 50 states, about 6.62% below national. Because both the tax and price adjustments tend to favor lower-nominal states, this ranking is the least stable of the three reported here.
- Against every occupation Oklahoma reports, mail clerks and mail machine operators, except postal service ranks 412 of 492, in the lowest quartile of the state's distribution. That position is set by the local labor market and is independent of how the state compares nationally for this work.
- Retained pay in Oklahoma is $30,502 after the full tax stack, from $36,680. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $34,549 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $37,400 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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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 | $23,290 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $36,680 |
| Top tenth earn over | $52,000 |
| This salary | $36,680 |
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 Oklahoma | $30,502 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $31,652 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,977 |
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 | $35,249 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,391 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 88 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $36,680 as a midpoint for Oklahoma, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $23,290 and the ninetieth is $52,000 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In Oklahoma the take-home figure of $30,502, from $36,680, assumes one filer, no dependants, and nothing paid into a pension before tax. Each of those lowers the bill, so treat it as the plain case. City and school-district income taxes are not included either, and in a few states those are real money. It ranks 412 of 492 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $34,549, the adjusted value of that $36,680 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Oklahoma. 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 412 of 492 locally.
- The Oklahoma median of $36,680 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $23,290 to $52,000. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Take-home for Oklahoma is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $30,502 from $36,680. Each omitted item reduces taxable income, so the figure is a lower bound on retained pay for this household shape. Municipal and school-district income taxes are excluded, which understates the burden materially in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The occupation ranks 412 of 492 locally.
- This $34,549 adjusted figure, worked from $36,680, 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 412 of 492 in the state. The occupation ranks 412 of 492 locally.
Questions people ask
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $23,290, the highest tenth $52,000, 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 Oklahoma sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $34,549 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Into four separate taxes, not one. Federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare apply everywhere, and Oklahoma adds its own income tax on top — which is why $30,502 of this wage survives to your account.
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.
What drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($23,290) and the ninetieth ($52,000) 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?
Oklahoma'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 $34,549 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 $30,502 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Oklahoma 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.