Mechanical Engineers in Arizona
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$77,266
after federal, FICA and Arizona tax
Tax takes
$23,004
22.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$76,421
Arizona costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th 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
$100,270
Kept after tax
$77,266
Worth in national money
$76,421
State rank
31
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Arizona sits in the middle of the pack for mechanical engineers. The median is $100,270, ranking 31 of 51 states with figures. Close enough to the national middle that where you live matters more than the headline suggests.
- Locally, this pays well. Among 491 occupations Arizona reports, mechanical engineers comes in at 63 — comfortably in the upper quarter.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $100,270, tax leaves $77,266, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $76,421 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $107,220, since top earners drag the number up.
- Arizona occupies the middle band for mechanical engineers: a median of $100,270, ranking 31 of 51. Where nominal pay is close to the national figure, the tax and price adjustments below carry proportionally more weight in determining the real outcome.
- Mechanical engineers ranks 63 of 491 occupations by median in Arizona, in the top quartile. Within-state position is largely independent of national position, so this holds regardless of how the state compares to others for the same work.
- Because Arizona sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for mechanical engineers — median $100,270 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $77,266 retained, $76,421 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $107,220 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Mechanical Engineers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $71,030 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $100,270 |
| Top tenth earn over | $159,040 |
| This salary | $100,270 |
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 | $77,266 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $79,370 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$5,256 |
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 | $97,279 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$7,260 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 101 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $100,270 as a midpoint for Arizona, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $71,030 and the ninetieth is $159,040 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $77,266 take-home in Arizona comes from $100,270. It is the no-frills case: single filer, standard deduction, nothing set aside before tax. Real circumstances almost always reduce the tax. City and school-district taxes are not counted at all. Locally the work ranks 63 of 491.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $76,421 uses one figure for the whole of Arizona. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 491 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 63.
- The Arizona median of $100,270 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $71,030 to $159,040. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Retained pay of $77,266, from $100,270, assumes a single Arizona filer with the standard deduction and no elective deferrals. Pre-tax retirement or HSA contributions, dependants and itemized deductions all reduce it further; local income taxes, excluded here, would increase it in the states that levy them. This occupation ranks 63 of 491 locally, and the state ranks 31 of 51 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $76,421, worked from $100,270, deflates by a statewide parity that conceals substantial intra-state variation, concentrated in housing — so it supports comparison between states rather than the pricing of a move to a particular Arizona address, on work sitting at 63 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 $107,220, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
The label is broader than the work. From $71,030 at the bottom tenth to $159,040 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
The number and the value are different things. Arizona costs more than the national average, so this take-home stretches like $76,421 rather than its face figure.
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; Arizona then takes its own share, leaving $77,266.
Can I compare this job across every state?
All 51 jurisdictions report this work, which makes the ranking a like-for-like 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 $107,220. 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 ($71,030) and the ninetieth ($159,040) 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?
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 $76,421 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 $77,266 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.
Is this occupation's state coverage complete?
State-level estimates are published for all 51 jurisdictions for this occupation, so cross-state comparison is not confounded by suppression. ⚠️ Estimates remain survey-based and carry sampling error; small differences between adjacent states should not be over-read.