Paving, Surfacing, and Tamping Equipment Operators in Florida
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$39,816
after federal, FICA and Florida tax
Tax takes
$7,024
15.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$38,487
Florida costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Florida — 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
$46,840
Kept after tax
$39,816
Worth in national money
$38,487
State rank
41
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Florida is among the lower-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $46,840, ranking 41 of 50 states — about 12.19% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 328 among 493 occupations Florida publishes pay for.
- Costs eat into it here. Of $46,840, tax leaves $39,816 — and because Florida is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $38,487 would nationally. Averages run higher here, $48,530, since top earners drag the number up.
- Florida ranks 41 of 50 for paving, surfacing, and tamping equipment operators, with a median of $46,840 — about 12.19% below the national figure. A nominal shortfall is not by itself a real one: lower-paying states frequently carry lower tax and lower price levels, and the adjusted figures below are where that is settled rather than assumed.
- Position 328 of 493 in Florida places paving, surfacing, and tamping equipment operators in the middle of the state's wage distribution. Because within-state and cross-state rankings measure different things, this figure and the national one above should be read together rather than as a single verdict.
- After tax, $39,816 remains from the Florida median of $46,840 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $38,487 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $48,530 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Paving, Surfacing, and Tamping Equipment Operators
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $37,910 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $46,840 |
| Top tenth earn over | $60,780 |
| This salary | $46,840 |
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 Florida | $39,816 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $39,816 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$2,486 |
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
| To match take-home only | $46,840 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$3,007 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 103 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Florida earn less than $46,840. The published range is $37,910 up to $60,780, 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 Florida's $39,816, worked from $46,840. 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 328 of 493.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $38,487 uses one figure for the whole of Florida. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 493 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 328.
- Reported values are medians; for paving, surfacing, and tamping equipment operators in Florida the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $37,910 to $60,780. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The Florida take-home of $39,816, on $46,840 for work ranking 328 of 493 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 328 of 493 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $38,487, worked from $46,840, 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 Florida address, on work sitting at 328 of 493 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 $48,530 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $37,910 at the bottom tenth to $60,780 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
A larger wage in a dearer place is not automatically more. Adjusted for local prices, this pay behaves like $38,487 of national purchasing power.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
No. $39,816 survives, because Florida levies no wage income tax. The federal share does not change with the state you work in.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 50 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release one.
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 Florida is $48,530. 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 ($37,910 to $60,780) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Florida rather than a national figure.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
Florida's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $38,487 in national-average terms. ⚠️ RPPs are an all-items index; housing parities vary far more widely than the headline figure.
Why is the take-home ratio comparatively high in this state?
Florida levies no personal income tax on wages, so take-home of $39,816 reflects the federal layer and FICA alone. Federal income tax and FICA are unchanged; states without a wage income tax generally recover revenue through consumption and property bases instead.
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 50 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.