Mechanical Engineers in Maine
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$75,208
after federal, FICA and Maine tax
Tax takes
$27,222
26.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$77,457
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
$102,430
Kept after tax
$75,208
Worth in national money
$77,457
State rank
26
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Maine sits in the middle of the pack for mechanical engineers. The median is $102,430, ranking 26 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 484 occupations Maine reports, mechanical engineers comes in at 47 — comfortably in the upper quarter.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $102,430 the take-home is $75,208, which is worth about $77,457 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is higher, $107,220, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Maine occupies the middle band for mechanical engineers: a median of $102,430, ranking 26 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 47 of 484 occupations by median in Maine, 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.
- Maine's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for mechanical engineers on its $102,430 median: $75,208 retained after tax becomes $77,457 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $107,220 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Mechanical Engineers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $78,440 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $102,430 |
| Top tenth earn over | $137,280 |
| This salary | $102,430 |
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 | $75,208 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $80,890 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$5,785 |
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 | $94,354 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$7,990 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 97 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Maine earn less than $102,430. The published range is $78,440 up to $137,280, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $75,208 take-home in Maine comes from $102,430. 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 47 of 484.
- Two cautions on $77,457, the adjusted value of that $102,430 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Maine. 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 47 of 484 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for mechanical engineers in Maine the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $78,440 to $137,280. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $75,208, from $102,430, assumes a single Maine 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 47 of 484 locally, and the state ranks 26 of 51 for it.
- This $77,457 adjusted figure, worked from $102,430, 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 47 of 484 in the state. The occupation ranks 47 of 484 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $107,220, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $78,440 at the tenth percentile, $137,280 at the ninetieth.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in Maine sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $77,457 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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, $75,208 remains.
Can I compare this job across every state?
Yes for this one. Pay is published in all 51 jurisdictions, so a state-to-state comparison here rests on the same survey everywhere rather than on a patchwork.
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 $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 is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($78,440 to $137,280) 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 $77,457 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 $75,208 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.
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.