Materials Engineers in New York
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$90,723
after federal, FICA and New York tax
Tax takes
$35,177
27.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$84,295
New York costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in New York — 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
$125,900
Kept after tax
$90,723
Worth in national money
$84,295
State rank
8
of 45 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. New York pays materials engineers a middle wage of $125,900, ranking 8 of 45 states and sitting about 11.55% above the national middle.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in New York. It ranks 53 out of 493 occupations the state publishes figures for, which puts it in the top quarter locally.
- New York is an expensive state, and the adjusted figure shows it. From $125,900 the take-home is $90,723; in national-average money that behaves like $84,295. The average lands at $123,860, below the middle of the range.
- New York's median for materials engineers is $125,900, about 11.55% above the national figure and 8 of 45 states reporting. Whether that premium reaches the worker depends on the two adjustments below, which is the part a wage table cannot tell you.
- Within New York, materials engineers ranks 53 of 493 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.
- Take-home for materials engineers in New York, on $125,900, is $90,723; deflated by the state's price level, $84,295. ⚠️ The deflator is statewide, so it understates the erosion in the state's metropolitan areas and overstates it outside them. At $123,860 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 | $73,920 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $125,900 |
| Top tenth earn over | $168,120 |
| This salary | $125,900 |
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 New York | $90,723 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $97,319 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$15,853 |
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 | $116,409 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$22,014 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 108 |
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 New York earn under $125,900 and half over. The published range runs $73,920 at the tenth percentile to $168,120 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In New York the take-home figure of $90,723, from $125,900, 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 53 of 493 occupations here.
- One number stands for prices across all of New York, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $84,295, the adjusted value of that $125,900 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 53 of 493 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for materials engineers in New York, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $73,920 to $168,120; 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.
- Take-home for New York is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $90,723 from $125,900. 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 53 of 493 locally.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for New York, so $84,295 — the adjusted value of that $125,900 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 53 of 493 locally.
Questions people ask
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $73,920 and the top tenth $168,120 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
Not on its own. Prices in New York run above the national level, so the same dollars buy less here. Adjusted for that, this pay is worth $84,295 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.
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 New York adds its own income tax on top — which is why $90,723 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 45 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 ($73,920) and the ninetieth ($168,120) 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.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
New York's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $84,295 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 $90,723 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and New York 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.