Motor Vehicle Operators, All Other in Pennsylvania
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$27,520
after federal, FICA and Pennsylvania tax
Tax takes
$5,270
16.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$28,226
Pennsylvania costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Pennsylvania — 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
$32,790
Kept after tax
$27,520
Worth in national money
$28,226
State rank
41
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is on the low side in Pennsylvania. The middle earner gets $32,790. That is 41 of 51 states, and about 11.81% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Against 492 occupations Pennsylvania publishes, this job lands at 470. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $32,790, tax leaves $27,520, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $28,226 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $41,780, since top earners drag the number up.
- For motor vehicle operators, all other, Pennsylvania sits in the lower band at $32,790, ranking 41 of 51 and trailing the national median by about 11.81%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Within Pennsylvania, this work ranks 470 of 492 occupations by median pay, in the bottom quartile. The within-state position is the more salient one for anyone weighing this job against alternatives available to them locally.
- Because Pennsylvania sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for motor vehicle operators, all other — median $32,790 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $27,520 retained, $28,226 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $41,780 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Motor Vehicle Operators, All Other
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $23,280 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $32,790 |
| Top tenth earn over | $66,520 |
| This salary | $32,790 |
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 Pennsylvania | $27,520 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $28,527 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$1,130 |
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 | $31,537 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$1,367 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 98 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $32,790 as a midpoint for Pennsylvania, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $23,280 and the ninetieth is $66,520 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $27,520 take-home in Pennsylvania comes from $32,790. 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 470 of 492.
- One number stands for prices across all of Pennsylvania, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $28,226, the adjusted value of that $32,790 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 470 of 492 in the state.
- The Pennsylvania median of $32,790 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $23,280 to $66,520. 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 $27,520, from $32,790, assumes a single Pennsylvania 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 470 of 492 locally, and the state ranks 41 of 51 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Pennsylvania, so $28,226 — the adjusted value of that $32,790 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 470 of 492 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 $41,780 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?
The label is broader than the work. From $23,280 at the bottom tenth to $66,520 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Pennsylvania is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $28,226 in national terms.
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 Pennsylvania's own levy, $27,520 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 Pennsylvania is $41,780. 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 ($23,280) and the ninetieth ($66,520) 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?
Pennsylvania'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 $28,226 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 $27,520 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Pennsylvania 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.