Meat, Poultry, and Fish Cutters and Trimmers in Arizona
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$40,379
after federal, FICA and Arizona tax
Tax takes
$8,171
16.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$39,937
Arizona costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the top tenth percentile for this work in Arizona — 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
$48,550
Kept after tax
$40,379
Worth in national money
$39,937
State rank
2
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. Arizona pays this job a middle wage of $48,550, ranking 2 of 50 states and sitting about 26.76% above the national middle.
- Against other work in Arizona, this sits in the middle: 319 of 491 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- No great distortion either way. Arizona costs about what the country costs, so from $48,550, take-home of $40,379 is worth roughly $39,937 in national money. The average lands at $46,360, below the middle of the range.
- Arizona's median for meat, poultry, and fish cutters and trimmers is $48,550, about 26.76% above the national figure and 2 of 50 states reporting. Whether that premium reaches the worker depends on the two adjustments below, which is the part a wage table cannot tell you.
- Meat, poultry, and fish cutters and trimmers ranks 319 of 491 occupations in Arizona by median pay, in the middle bands. Within-state and national positions are separate measurements and a job commonly sits in different quartiles on each.
- Price parity in Arizona is near the national base, so for meat, poultry, and fish cutters and trimmers, whose median is $48,550, the adjusted figure of $39,937 differs little from $40,379 retained after tax. The state's position for this occupation is therefore set by wage and tax rather than by living costs. At $46,360 the mean undershoots the median, an inversion of the usual skew.
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Pay band: Meat, Poultry, and Fish Cutters and Trimmers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $36,510 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $48,550 |
| Top tenth earn over | $48,550 |
| This salary | $48,550 |
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 Arizona | $40,379 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $41,190 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$2,450 |
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 | $47,540 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$2,963 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 101 |
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 meat, poultry, and fish cutters and trimmers in Arizona earn under $48,550 and half over. The published range runs $36,510 at the tenth percentile to $48,550 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In Arizona the take-home figure of $40,379, from $48,550, 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 319 of 491 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $39,937, the adjusted value of that $48,550 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Arizona. 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 319 of 491 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for meat, poultry, and fish cutters and trimmers in Arizona, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $36,510 to $48,550; 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 Arizona is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $40,379 from $48,550. 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 319 of 491 locally.
- This $39,937 adjusted figure, worked from $48,550, 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 319 of 491 in the state. The occupation ranks 319 of 491 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 $46,360, 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?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $36,510 at the tenth percentile, $48,550 at the ninetieth.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
Not on its own. Prices in Arizona run above the national level, so the same dollars buy less here. Adjusted for that, this pay is worth $39,937 — 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 Arizona adds its own income tax on top — which is why $40,379 of this wage survives to your account.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 50 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 Arizona is $46,360. 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 ($36,510 to $48,550) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Arizona rather than a national figure.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
Arizona's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $39,937 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 $40,379 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Arizona 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 50 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.