Materials Engineers in Connecticut
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$88,770
after federal, FICA and Connecticut tax
Tax takes
$33,530
27.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$85,612
Connecticut costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Connecticut — 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
$122,300
Kept after tax
$88,770
Worth in national money
$85,612
State rank
12
of 45 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for materials engineers is strong here. Connecticut's middle earner gets $122,300, putting the state 12 of 45 — about 8.36% ahead of the national figure.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in Connecticut. It ranks 44 out of 482 occupations the state publishes figures for, which puts it in the top quarter locally.
- The wage here flatters the reality. From $122,300 the take-home is $88,770. But Connecticut costs more than the national average, so that money behaves more like $85,612 would elsewhere. Worth knowing before comparing offers across states. The average is lower, $120,360, so pay clusters nearer the top than usual.
- For materials engineers, Connecticut sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $122,300, ranking 12 of 45 and running about 8.36% 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.
- Within Connecticut, materials engineers ranks 44 of 482 occupations by median pay, placing it in the top quartile of the local distribution. This is the comparison a resident actually makes — against neighbors rather than against the same job elsewhere.
- Retained pay after federal, FICA and Connecticut income tax is $88,770 for materials engineers, from $122,300. The state's price level exceeds the national average, so the price-adjusted equivalent is $85,612. ⚠️ 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 $120,360 falls below the median, a left skew that is uncommon in wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Materials Engineers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $88,330 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $122,300 |
| Top tenth earn over | $155,440 |
| This salary | $122,300 |
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 Connecticut | $88,770 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $94,858 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$12,004 |
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 | $113,632 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$16,595 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 104 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $122,300 as a midpoint for Connecticut, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $88,330 and the ninetieth is $155,440 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Connecticut's $88,770, worked from $122,300. 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 44 of 482.
- Two cautions on $85,612, the adjusted value of that $122,300 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Connecticut. 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 44 of 482 locally.
- The Connecticut median of $122,300 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $88,330 to $155,440. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- The Connecticut take-home of $88,770, on $122,300 for work ranking 44 of 482 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 44 of 482 in the state.
- This $85,612 adjusted figure, worked from $122,300, 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 44 of 482 in the state. The occupation ranks 44 of 482 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $88,330 and the top tenth $155,440, so most people doing this work in Connecticut sit within a fairly tight band.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
Not on its own. Prices in Connecticut run above the national level, so the same dollars buy less here. Adjusted for that, this pay is worth $85,612 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.
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; Connecticut then takes its own share, leaving $88,770.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 45 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release one.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($88,330 to $155,440) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Connecticut rather than a national figure.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
Connecticut's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $85,612 in national-average terms. ⚠️ RPPs are an all-items index; housing parities vary far more widely than the headline figure.
What accounts for the gap between gross wage and take-home here?
Take-home of $88,770 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Connecticut 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 45 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.