Mail Clerks and Mail Machine Operators, Except Postal Service in Wisconsin
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$31,489
after federal, FICA and Wisconsin tax
Tax takes
$6,241
16.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$33,824
Wisconsin costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Wisconsin — 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
$37,730
Kept after tax
$31,489
Worth in national money
$33,824
State rank
35
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is on the low side in Wisconsin. The middle earner gets $37,730. That is 35 of 50 states, and about 3.95% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Against 491 occupations Wisconsin publishes, this job lands at 436. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Wisconsin is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $37,730 the take-home is $31,489; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $33,824 would nationally. The average comes to $38,310, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For mail clerks and mail machine operators, except postal service, Wisconsin sits in the lower band at $37,730, ranking 35 of 50 and trailing the national median by about 3.95%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Within Wisconsin, this work ranks 436 of 491 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.
- Post-tax income for mail clerks and mail machine operators, except postal service in Wisconsin, on $37,730, is $31,489 — equivalent to $33,824 once regional price parity is applied. ⚠️ The adjustment uses a statewide index that describes no particular address; within-state price variation, concentrated in housing, routinely exceeds the difference between two states. At $38,310 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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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 | $27,310 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $37,730 |
| Top tenth earn over | $49,850 |
| This salary | $37,730 |
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 Wisconsin | $31,489 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $32,496 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$383 |
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 | $36,477 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$464 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 93 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Wisconsin earn less than $37,730. The published range is $27,310 up to $49,850, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Wisconsin's $31,489, worked from $37,730. 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 436 of 491.
- One number stands for prices across all of Wisconsin, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $33,824, the adjusted value of that $37,730 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 436 of 491 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for mail clerks and mail machine operators, except postal service in Wisconsin the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $27,310 to $49,850. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The Wisconsin take-home of $31,489, on $37,730 for work ranking 436 of 491 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 436 of 491 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Wisconsin, so $33,824 — the adjusted value of that $37,730 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 436 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $27,310 at the tenth percentile, $49,850 at the ninetieth.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in Wisconsin sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $33,824 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 Wisconsin adds its own income tax on top — which is why $31,489 of this wage survives to your account.
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 ($27,310 to $49,850) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Wisconsin rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Wisconsin'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 $33,824 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 $31,489 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Wisconsin 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.