Materials Engineers in Utah
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$66,875
after federal, FICA and Utah tax
Tax takes
$21,205
24.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$70,393
Utah costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Utah — 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
$88,080
Kept after tax
$66,875
Worth in national money
$70,393
State rank
41
of 45 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Utah is among the lower-paying states for materials engineers. The middle earner takes $88,080, ranking 41 of 45 states — about 21.96% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
- Within Utah this is well-paid work. Of 487 occupations with published figures in the state, materials engineers ranks 95 — in the top quarter of everything people do there.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $88,080 you keep $66,875 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $70,393 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $100,130, since top earners drag the number up.
- Utah ranks 41 of 45 for materials engineers, with a median of $88,080 — about 21.96% 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 Utah publishes a median for, materials engineers sits 95 of 487 — 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.
- Retained pay in Utah is $66,875 after the full tax stack, from $88,080. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $70,393 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $100,130 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Materials Engineers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $69,180 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $88,080 |
| Top tenth earn over | $140,620 |
| This salary | $88,080 |
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 Utah | $66,875 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $70,794 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$2,459 |
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 | $82,508 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$3,397 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 95 |
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 Utah earn under $88,080 and half over. The published range runs $69,180 at the tenth percentile to $140,620 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In Utah the take-home figure of $66,875, from $88,080, 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 95 of 487 occupations here.
- One number stands for prices across all of Utah, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $70,393, the adjusted value of that $88,080 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 95 of 487 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for materials engineers in Utah, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $69,180 to $140,620; 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 Utah is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $66,875 from $88,080. 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 95 of 487 locally.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Utah, so $70,393 — the adjusted value of that $88,080 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 95 of 487 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 $100,130 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $69,180 and the top tenth $140,620 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in Utah sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $70,393 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 Utah adds its own income tax on top — which is why $66,875 of this wage survives to your account.
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.
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 Utah is $100,130. 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 drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($69,180) and the ninetieth ($140,620) 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.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Utah'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 $70,393 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 $66,875 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Utah 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.