Motorboat Mechanics and Service Technicians in North Carolina
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$41,961
after federal, FICA and North Carolina tax
Tax takes
$9,469
18.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$44,573
North Carolina costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in North Carolina — 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
$51,430
Kept after tax
$41,961
Worth in national money
$44,573
State rank
28
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- North Carolina sits in the middle of the pack for this job. The median is $51,430, ranking 28 of 49 states with figures. Close enough to the national middle that where you live matters more than the headline suggests.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 266 among 489 occupations North Carolina publishes pay for.
- North Carolina is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $51,430 the take-home is $41,961; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $44,573 would nationally. The average comes to $55,160, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- North Carolina occupies the middle band for motorboat mechanics and service technicians: a median of $51,430, ranking 28 of 49. Where nominal pay is close to the national figure, the tax and price adjustments below carry proportionally more weight in determining the real outcome.
- Position 266 of 489 in North Carolina places motorboat mechanics and service technicians in the middle of the state's wage distribution. Because within-state and cross-state rankings measure different things, this figure and the national one above should be read together rather than as a single verdict.
- Post-tax income for motorboat mechanics and service technicians in North Carolina, on $51,430, is $41,961 — equivalent to $44,573 once regional price parity is applied. ⚠️ The adjustment uses a statewide index that describes no particular address; within-state price variation, concentrated in housing, routinely exceeds the difference between two states. At $55,160 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
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Pay band: Motorboat Mechanics and Service Technicians
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $31,400 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $51,430 |
| Top tenth earn over | $76,920 |
| This salary | $51,430 |
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 North Carolina | $41,961 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $43,504 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$196 |
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 | $49,509 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$237 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 94 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $51,430 as a midpoint for North Carolina, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $31,400 and the ninetieth is $76,920 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $41,961 take-home in North Carolina comes from $51,430. 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 266 of 489.
- One number stands for prices across all of North Carolina, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $44,573, the adjusted value of that $51,430 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 266 of 489 in the state.
- The North Carolina median of $51,430 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $31,400 to $76,920. 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 $41,961, from $51,430, assumes a single North Carolina 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 266 of 489 locally, and the state ranks 28 of 49 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for North Carolina, so $44,573 — the adjusted value of that $51,430 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 266 of 489 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 $55,160 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 $31,400 and the top tenth $76,920 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
A smaller wage in a cheaper place is not automatically less. Adjusted for local prices, this is worth $44,573.
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 North Carolina adds its own income tax on top — which is why $41,961 of this wage survives to your account.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 49 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 North Carolina is $55,160. 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 ($31,400) and the ninetieth ($76,920) 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?
North Carolina'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 $44,573 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 $41,961 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and North Carolina 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 49 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.