Ophthalmic Medical Technicians in Utah
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$29,466
after federal, FICA and Utah tax
Tax takes
$6,484
18.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$31,016
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
$35,950
Kept after tax
$29,466
Worth in national money
$31,016
State rank
50
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for ophthalmic medical technicians is on the low side in Utah. The middle earner gets $35,950. That is 50 of 51 states, and about 21.11% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Against 487 occupations Utah publishes, ophthalmic medical technicians lands at 450. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Utah is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $35,950 the take-home is $29,466; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $31,016 would nationally. The average comes to $38,680, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For ophthalmic medical technicians, Utah sits in the lower band at $35,950, ranking 50 of 51 and trailing the national median by about 21.11%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Within Utah, this work ranks 450 of 487 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.
- Post-tax income for ophthalmic medical technicians in Utah, on $35,950, is $29,466 — equivalent to $31,016 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 $38,680 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
Choose your filing status and local taxes, compare pay, and keep a shortlist.Compare wage and personal-pay outcomes by state, with selected resident local taxes and saved career choices.
Pay band: Ophthalmic Medical Technicians
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $30,440 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $35,950 |
| Top tenth earn over | $49,460 |
| This salary | $35,950 |
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 | $29,466 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $31,066 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$953 |
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 | $33,959 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$1,152 |
| 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 $35,950. The published range is $30,440 up to $49,460, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- In Utah the take-home figure of $29,466, from $35,950, 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 450 of 487 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $31,016, the adjusted value of that $35,950 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Utah. 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 450 of 487 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for ophthalmic medical technicians in Utah the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $30,440 to $49,460. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Take-home for Utah is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $29,466 from $35,950. 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 450 of 487 locally.
- This $31,016 adjusted figure, worked from $35,950, 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 450 of 487 in the state. The occupation ranks 450 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 $38,680, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $30,440 at the bottom tenth to $49,460 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in Utah sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $31,016 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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, $29,466 remains.
Can I compare this job across every state?
This occupation is published everywhere — all 51 of them — so comparing states measures real differences rather than gaps in the data.
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 $38,680. 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 ($30,440 to $49,460) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Utah rather than a national figure.
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 $31,016 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 $29,466 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.
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.