Packers and Packagers, Hand in Maine
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$30,175
after federal, FICA and Maine tax
Tax takes
$6,155
16.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$31,077
Maine costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Maine — 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
$36,330
Kept after tax
$30,175
Worth in national money
$31,077
State rank
23
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Maine pays packers and packagers, hand around $36,330 at the midpoint, 23 of 51 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Against 484 occupations Maine publishes, packers and packagers, hand lands at 471. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $36,330, tax leaves $30,175, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $31,077 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $36,880, since top earners drag the number up.
- For packers and packagers, hand the Maine median is $36,330, ranking 23 of 51 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 Maine, this work ranks 471 of 484 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.
- Because Maine sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for packers and packagers, hand — median $36,330 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $30,175 retained, $31,077 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $36,880 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Packers and Packagers, Hand
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $30,470 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $36,330 |
| Top tenth earn over | $45,860 |
| This salary | $36,330 |
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 Maine | $30,175 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $31,371 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$1,206 |
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 | $34,841 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$1,459 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 97 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Maine earn less than $36,330. The published range is $30,470 up to $45,860, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Maine's $30,175, worked from $36,330. 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 471 of 484.
- One number stands for prices across all of Maine, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $31,077, the adjusted value of that $36,330 median, as a way to compare states fairly, not as a quote for any particular place. The two datasets are also from different years. This job sits at 471 of 484 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for packers and packagers, hand in Maine the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $30,470 to $45,860. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The Maine take-home of $30,175, on $36,330 for work ranking 471 of 484 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 471 of 484 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Maine, so $31,077 — the adjusted value of that $36,330 median — establishes comparability between states rather than accuracy within one. The wage and parity series are dated independently, each following its own publication cycle, and neither is projected forward. This occupation sits at 471 of 484 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $30,470 and the top tenth $45,860, so most people doing this work in Maine sit within a fairly tight band.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Maine is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $31,077 in national terms.
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 Maine adds its own income tax on top — which is why $30,175 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.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($30,470 to $45,860) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Maine rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Maine'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 $31,077 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 $30,175 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Maine 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.