Museum Technicians and Conservators in Utah
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$29,071
after federal, FICA and Utah tax
Tax takes
$6,359
17.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$30,601
Utah costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Utah — 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
$35,430
Kept after tax
$29,071
Worth in national money
$30,601
State rank
44
of 45 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Utah pays this job a middle wage of $35,430, 44 of 45 states and about 31.12% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Within Utah this is lower-paid work. Of 487 occupations the state publishes figures for, this job ranks 456. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Here is where Utah does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $35,430 you keep $29,071, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $30,601 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $41,010, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Utah's $35,430 median for museum technicians and conservators places it 44 of 45 states, about 31.12% below national. Because both the tax and price adjustments tend to favor lower-nominal states, this ranking is the least stable of the three reported here.
- Against every occupation Utah reports, museum technicians and conservators ranks 456 of 487, in the lowest quartile of the state's distribution. That position is set by the local labor market and is independent of how the state compares nationally for this work.
- After federal, FICA and Utah income tax, retained pay for museum technicians and conservators on $35,430 is $29,071. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $30,601 in national-average terms. ⚠️ That figure is purchasing power, not a wage, and nobody is paid it; it is what the take-home buys. The mean of $41,010 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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Pay band: Museum Technicians and Conservators
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $28,230 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $35,430 |
| Top tenth earn over | $64,260 |
| This salary | $35,430 |
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 Utah | $29,071 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $30,648 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$938 |
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 | $33,468 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$1,135 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 95 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Utah earn less than $35,430. The published range is $28,230 up to $64,260, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Utah's $29,071, worked from $35,430. That is on purpose. It lets states be compared with each other, not with each other's family circumstances. Local city taxes are left out. Locally this work ranks 456 of 487.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $30,601 uses one figure for the whole of Utah. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 487 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 456.
- Reported values are medians; for museum technicians and conservators in Utah the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $28,230 to $64,260. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The Utah take-home of $29,071, on $35,430 for work ranking 456 of 487 locally, models the simplest household deliberately: holding it constant is what makes the interstate comparison meaningful. It also means the absolute figure overstates liability for most real filers, and municipal income taxes are outside the model entirely. The occupation ranks 456 of 487 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $30,601, worked from $35,430, 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 Utah address, on work sitting at 456 of 487 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 $41,010, 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?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $28,230, the highest tenth $64,260, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
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 $30,601.
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 Utah's own levy, $29,071 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 45 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 Utah is $41,010. 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 ($28,230) and the ninetieth ($64,260) 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?
Utah'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 $30,601 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 $29,071 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Utah 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.