Orderlies in North Carolina

A stethoscope and folded scrubs in a sunlit clinical workspace.

May 2025 wages · tax year 2026

You keep

$32,225

after federal, FICA and North Carolina tax

Tax takes

$6,455

16.7% of the whole

Worth, in national money

$34,231

North Carolina costs less than average

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

$38,680

Kept after tax

$32,225

Worth in national money

$34,231

State rank

19

of 47 states

What this pays, and what it is worth

  • Middling, nationally. North Carolina pays orderlies around $38,680 at the midpoint, 19 of 47 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
  • Against 489 occupations North Carolina publishes, orderlies lands at 411. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
  • North Carolina is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $38,680 the take-home is $32,225; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $34,231 would nationally. The average comes to $39,300, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
  • For orderlies the North Carolina median is $38,680, ranking 19 of 47 states reporting. Mid-band nominal positions are the ones most frequently reordered by the adjustments, because no large wage premium exists to absorb a state's tax or price level.
  • Within North Carolina, this work ranks 411 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.
  • Post-tax income for orderlies in North Carolina, on $38,680, is $32,225 — equivalent to $34,231 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 $39,300 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.

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Pay band: Orderlies

The state median for this job

50thpercentile, roughly
Lowest tenth earn under$33,570
Half earn under$38,680
Top tenth earn over$46,230
This salary$38,680

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

Compare with
+$1,035take-home per year in Texas
Take-home in North Carolina$32,225
Take-home in Texas$33,259
Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity−$5

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

Moving to
$0$38,686
$38,686in Texas, for the same life
To match take-home only$37,392
Raise you would need+$6
Prices in Texas97 vs 94

State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.

Sources and assumptions
  • Treat $38,680 as a midpoint for North Carolina, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $33,570 and the ninetieth is $46,230 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
  • In North Carolina the take-home figure of $32,225, from $38,680, 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 411 of 489 occupations here.
  • Two cautions on $34,231, the adjusted value of that $38,680 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 411 of 489 locally.
  • The North Carolina median of $38,680 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $33,570 to $46,230. 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 $32,225 from $38,680. 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 411 of 489 locally.
  • This $34,231 adjusted figure, worked from $38,680, 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 411 of 489 in the state. The occupation ranks 411 of 489 locally.

Questions people ask

How much does pay for this job actually vary?

Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $33,570 at the tenth percentile, $46,230 at the ninetieth.

What does this pay actually buy where I live?

More than the figure suggests. Prices in North Carolina sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $34,231 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 North Carolina's own levy, $32,225 remains.

Why is this job missing from some states?

A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 47 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release one.

What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?

The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($33,570 to $46,230) 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 $34,231 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 $32,225 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 47 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.