Outdoor Power Equipment and Other Small Engine Mechanics in Pennsylvania
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$37,937
after federal, FICA and Pennsylvania tax
Tax takes
$8,333
18.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$38,910
Pennsylvania costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Pennsylvania — 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
$46,270
Kept after tax
$37,937
Worth in national money
$38,910
State rank
34
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Pennsylvania pays this job a middle wage of $46,270, 34 of 49 states and about 3.36% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Against other work in Pennsylvania, this sits in the middle: 364 of 492 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- No great distortion either way. Pennsylvania costs about what the country costs, so from $46,270, take-home of $37,937 is worth roughly $38,910 in national money. The average comes to $48,770, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Pennsylvania's $46,270 median for outdoor power equipment and other small engine mechanics places it 34 of 49 states, about 3.36% 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.
- Outdoor power equipment and other small engine mechanics ranks 364 of 492 occupations in Pennsylvania by median pay, in the middle bands. Within-state and national positions are separate measurements and a job commonly sits in different quartiles on each.
- Price parity in Pennsylvania is near the national base, so for outdoor power equipment and other small engine mechanics, whose median is $46,270, the adjusted figure of $38,910 differs little from $37,937 retained after tax. The state's position for this occupation is therefore set by wage and tax rather than by living costs. At $48,770 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
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Pay band: Outdoor Power Equipment and Other Small Engine Mechanics
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $33,990 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $46,270 |
| Top tenth earn over | $71,720 |
| This salary | $46,270 |
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 Pennsylvania | $37,937 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $39,358 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$1,592 |
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 | $44,502 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$1,925 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 98 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $46,270 as a midpoint for Pennsylvania, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $33,990 and the ninetieth is $71,720 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Pennsylvania's $37,937, worked from $46,270. 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 364 of 492.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $38,910 uses one figure for the whole of Pennsylvania. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 492 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 364.
- The Pennsylvania median of $46,270 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $33,990 to $71,720. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- The Pennsylvania take-home of $37,937, on $46,270 for work ranking 364 of 492 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 364 of 492 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $38,910, worked from $46,270, 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 Pennsylvania address, on work sitting at 364 of 492 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 $48,770 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?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $33,990, the highest tenth $71,720, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in Pennsylvania sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $38,910 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Four deductions, stacked. The federal layer and the two payroll taxes apply wherever you work; Pennsylvania then takes its own share, leaving $37,937.
Why is this job missing from some states?
Because the survey suppresses a figure when too few employers report it. This occupation has published pay in 49 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
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 Pennsylvania is $48,770. 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 ($33,990) and the ninetieth ($71,720) 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?
Pennsylvania'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 $38,910 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 $37,937 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Pennsylvania 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 49 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.