News Analysts, Reporters, and Journalists in Wisconsin
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$46,423
after federal, FICA and Wisconsin tax
Tax takes
$11,107
19.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$49,865
Wisconsin costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Wisconsin — 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
$57,530
Kept after tax
$46,423
Worth in national money
$49,865
State rank
17
of 48 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Wisconsin sits in the middle of the pack for this job. The median is $57,530, ranking 17 of 48 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 280 among 491 occupations Wisconsin publishes pay for.
- Here is where Wisconsin does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $57,530 you keep $46,423, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $49,865 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $62,050, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Wisconsin occupies the middle band for news analysts, reporters, and journalists: a median of $57,530, ranking 17 of 48. 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 280 of 491 in Wisconsin places news analysts, reporters, and journalists 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.
- After federal, FICA and Wisconsin income tax, retained pay for news analysts, reporters, and journalists on $57,530 is $46,423. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $49,865 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 $62,050 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: News Analysts, Reporters, and Journalists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $37,170 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $57,530 |
| Top tenth earn over | $97,380 |
| This salary | $57,530 |
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 Wisconsin | $46,423 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $48,405 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$53 |
The raise and the real gain point in opposite directions here.
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 | $55,063 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$64 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 93 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- A median is the middle, not an offer. Half of news analysts, reporters, and journalists in Wisconsin earn under $57,530 and half over. The published range runs $37,170 at the tenth percentile to $97,380 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In Wisconsin the take-home figure of $46,423, from $57,530, 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 280 of 491 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $49,865, the adjusted value of that $57,530 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Wisconsin. 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 280 of 491 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for news analysts, reporters, and journalists in Wisconsin, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $37,170 to $97,380; within-state dispersion of that width routinely exceeds the dispersion between states, so tenure, employer and metropolitan area predict an individual's pay better than geography does.
- Take-home for Wisconsin is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $46,423 from $57,530. 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 280 of 491 locally.
- This $49,865 adjusted figure, worked from $57,530, 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 280 of 491 in the state. The occupation ranks 280 of 491 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 $62,050 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 $37,170 and the top tenth $97,380 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Wisconsin is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $49,865 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 Wisconsin's own levy, $46,423 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 48 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 Wisconsin is $62,050. 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 ($37,170) and the ninetieth ($97,380) 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?
Wisconsin'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 $49,865 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 $46,423 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Wisconsin 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 48 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.