Materials Engineers in Alaska
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$95,583
after federal, FICA and Alaska tax
Tax takes
$27,777
22.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$93,971
Alaska costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Alaska — 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
$123,360
Kept after tax
$95,583
Worth in national money
$93,971
State rank
10
of 45 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for materials engineers is strong here. Alaska's middle earner gets $123,360, putting the state 10 of 45 — about 9.3% ahead of the national figure.
- Within Alaska this is well-paid work. Of 430 occupations with published figures in the state, materials engineers ranks 31 — in the top quarter of everything people do there.
- No great distortion either way. Alaska costs about what the country costs, so from $123,360, take-home of $95,583 is worth roughly $93,971 in national money. The average lands at $116,720, below the middle of the range.
- For materials engineers, Alaska sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $123,360, ranking 10 of 45 and running about 9.3% above the national midpoint. Nominal advantage of this size is usually, though not always, large enough to survive the state's own tax and price levels.
- Ranked against every occupation Alaska publishes a median for, materials engineers sits 31 of 430 — the upper quartile of the state's wage distribution. National standing and within-state standing are separate questions, and a job can occupy very different positions on each.
- Price parity in Alaska is near the national base, so for materials engineers, whose median is $123,360, the adjusted figure of $93,971 differs little from $95,583 retained after tax. The state's position for this occupation is therefore set by wage and tax rather than by living costs. At $116,720 the mean undershoots the median, an inversion of the usual skew.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Materials Engineers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $79,970 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $123,360 |
| Top tenth earn over | $154,150 |
| This salary | $123,360 |
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 Alaska | $95,583 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $95,583 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$4,390 |
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 | $123,360 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$6,109 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 102 |
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 materials engineers in Alaska earn under $123,360 and half over. The published range runs $79,970 at the tenth percentile to $154,150 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 Alaska's $95,583, worked from $123,360. 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 31 of 430.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $93,971 uses one figure for the whole of Alaska. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 430 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 31.
- Figures are distribution medians for materials engineers in Alaska, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $79,970 to $154,150; 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 Alaska take-home of $95,583, on $123,360 for work ranking 31 of 430 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 31 of 430 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $93,971, worked from $123,360, deflates by a statewide parity that conceals substantial intra-state variation, concentrated in housing — so it supports comparison between states rather than the pricing of a move to a particular Alaska address, on work sitting at 31 of 430 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 $116,720, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $79,970 and the top tenth $154,150, so most people doing this work in Alaska sit within a fairly tight band.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
The number and the value are different things. Alaska costs more than the national average, so this take-home stretches like $93,971 rather than its face figure.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Less than people assume. $95,583 of this wage reaches your account, because Alaska takes no income tax from wages — but federal tax, Social Security and Medicare still apply exactly as they do everywhere else.
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 45 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 Alaska is $116,720. 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 is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($79,970 to $154,150) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Alaska rather than a national figure.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
Alaska's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $93,971 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?
Alaska levies no personal income tax on wages, so take-home of $95,583 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.
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 45 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.