Museum Technicians and Conservators in North Carolina
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$32,691
after federal, FICA and North Carolina tax
Tax takes
$6,599
16.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$34,726
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
$39,290
Kept after tax
$32,691
Worth in national money
$34,726
State rank
38
of 45 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is on the low side in North Carolina. The middle earner gets $39,290. That is 38 of 45 states, and about 23.62% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Against 489 occupations North Carolina publishes, this job lands at 401. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $39,290 you keep $32,691 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $34,726 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $42,720, since top earners drag the number up.
- For museum technicians and conservators, North Carolina sits in the lower band at $39,290, ranking 38 of 45 and trailing the national median by about 23.62%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Within North Carolina, this work ranks 401 of 489 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.
- Retained pay in North Carolina is $32,691 after the full tax stack, from $39,290. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $34,726 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $42,720 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Museum Technicians and Conservators
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $30,930 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $39,290 |
| Top tenth earn over | $56,080 |
| This salary | $39,290 |
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 | $32,691 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $33,750 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$5 |
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 | $37,972 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$6 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 94 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $39,290 as a midpoint for North Carolina, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $30,930 and the ninetieth is $56,080 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In North Carolina the take-home figure of $32,691, from $39,290, 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 401 of 489 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $34,726, the adjusted value of that $39,290 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of North Carolina. 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 401 of 489 locally.
- The North Carolina median of $39,290 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $30,930 to $56,080. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Take-home for North Carolina is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $32,691 from $39,290. 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 401 of 489 locally.
- This $34,726 adjusted figure, worked from $39,290, 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 401 of 489 in the state. The occupation ranks 401 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 $42,720 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $30,930 at the bottom tenth to $56,080 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. North Carolina is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $34,726 in national terms.
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; North Carolina then takes its own share, leaving $32,691.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 45 states here, and a missing state means too few reports, not no jobs.
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 $42,720. 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 ($30,930 to $56,080) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to North Carolina rather than a national figure.
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 $34,726 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 $32,691 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 45 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.