Materials Engineers in Maine
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$71,846
after federal, FICA and Maine tax
Tax takes
$25,264
26.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$73,994
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
$97,110
Kept after tax
$71,846
Worth in national money
$73,994
State rank
37
of 45 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Maine is among the lower-paying states for materials engineers. The middle earner takes $97,110, ranking 37 of 45 states — about 13.96% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
- Within Maine this is well-paid work. Of 484 occupations with published figures in the state, materials engineers ranks 67 — in the top quarter of everything people do there.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $97,110 the take-home is $71,846, which is worth about $73,994 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is higher, $104,980, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Maine ranks 37 of 45 for materials engineers, with a median of $97,110 — about 13.96% below the national figure. A nominal shortfall is not by itself a real one: lower-paying states frequently carry lower tax and lower price levels, and the adjusted figures below are where that is settled rather than assumed.
- Ranked against every occupation Maine publishes a median for, materials engineers sits 67 of 484 — 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.
- Maine's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for materials engineers on its $97,110 median: $71,846 retained after tax becomes $73,994 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $104,980 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
Choose your filing status and local taxes, compare pay, and keep a shortlist.Compare wage and personal-pay outcomes by state, with selected resident local taxes and saved career choices.
Pay band: Materials Engineers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $72,130 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $97,110 |
| Top tenth earn over | $138,440 |
| This salary | $97,110 |
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 | $71,846 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $77,147 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$5,396 |
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 | $89,575 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$7,453 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 97 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $97,110 as a midpoint for Maine, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $72,130 and the ninetieth is $138,440 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In Maine the take-home figure of $71,846, from $97,110, 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 67 of 484 occupations here.
- One number stands for prices across all of Maine, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $73,994, the adjusted value of that $97,110 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 67 of 484 in the state.
- The Maine median of $97,110 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $72,130 to $138,440. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Take-home for Maine is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $71,846 from $97,110. 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 67 of 484 locally.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Maine, so $73,994 — the adjusted value of that $97,110 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 67 of 484 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
Half earn more than this and half earn less. The average sits at $104,980 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $72,130 at the bottom tenth to $138,440 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
A smaller wage in a cheaper place is not automatically less. Adjusted for local prices, this is worth $73,994.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Three of them are federal and one is not. After income tax, Social Security, Medicare and Maine's own levy, $71,846 remains.
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 Maine is $104,980. 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 ($72,130 to $138,440) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to 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 $73,994 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 $71,846 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 45 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.