Opticians, Dispensing in Hawaii
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$57,524
after federal, FICA and Hawaii tax
Tax takes
$17,776
23.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$52,964
Hawaii costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Hawaii — 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
$75,300
Kept after tax
$57,524
Worth in national money
$52,964
State rank
2
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for opticians, dispensing is strong here. Hawaii's middle earner gets $75,300, putting the state 2 of 51 — about 59.33% ahead of the national figure.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 437 occupations Hawaii reports figures for, this is number 163.
- Costs eat into it here. Of $75,300, tax leaves $57,524 — and because Hawaii is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $52,964 would nationally. Here the average runs under the middle, at $67,390.
- For opticians, dispensing, Hawaii sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $75,300, ranking 2 of 51 and running about 59.33% above the national midpoint. Nominal advantage of this size is usually, though not always, large enough to survive the state's own tax and price levels.
- In Hawaii's occupational distribution, opticians, dispensing sits at 163 of 437 — neither quartile. This local position is what a resident compares against, and it is determined by the state's own labor market rather than by national patterns for this occupation.
- After tax, $57,524 remains from the Hawaii median of $75,300 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $52,964 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $67,390 sits under the median, so the lower tail is the longer one.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Opticians, Dispensing
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $41,080 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $75,300 |
| Top tenth earn over | $80,910 |
| This salary | $75,300 |
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 Hawaii | $57,524 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $61,804 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$10,636 |
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 | $69,217 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$13,958 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 109 |
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 opticians, dispensing in Hawaii earn under $75,300 and half over. The published range runs $41,080 at the tenth percentile to $80,910 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $57,524 take-home in Hawaii comes from $75,300. 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 163 of 437.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $52,964 uses one figure for the whole of Hawaii. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 437 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 163.
- Figures are distribution medians for opticians, dispensing in Hawaii, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $41,080 to $80,910; 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.
- Retained pay of $57,524, from $75,300, assumes a single Hawaii 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 163 of 437 locally, and the state ranks 2 of 51 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $52,964, worked from $75,300, 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 Hawaii address, on work sitting at 163 of 437 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $67,390, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $41,080 at the bottom tenth to $80,910 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
Not on its own. Prices in Hawaii run above the national level, so the same dollars buy less here. Adjusted for that, this pay is worth $52,964 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.
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 Hawaii adds its own income tax on top — which is why $57,524 of this wage survives to your account.
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 Hawaii is $67,390. 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 ($41,080 to $80,910) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Hawaii rather than a national figure.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
Hawaii's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $52,964 in national-average terms. ⚠️ RPPs are an all-items index; housing parities vary far more widely than the headline figure.
What accounts for the gap between gross wage and take-home here?
Take-home of $57,524 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Hawaii 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.