Paving, Surfacing, and Tamping Equipment Operators in Georgia
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$37,520
after federal, FICA and Georgia tax
Tax takes
$8,580
18.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$38,801
Georgia costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Georgia — 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
$46,100
Kept after tax
$37,520
Worth in national money
$38,801
State rank
43
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is on the low side in Georgia. The middle earner gets $46,100. That is 43 of 50 states, and about 13.57% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Against other work in Georgia, this sits in the middle: 346 of 492 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Here is where Georgia does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $46,100 you keep $37,520, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $38,801 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $47,540, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For paving, surfacing, and tamping equipment operators, Georgia sits in the lower band at $46,100, ranking 43 of 50 and trailing the national median by about 13.57%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Paving, surfacing, and tamping equipment operators ranks 346 of 492 occupations in Georgia 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.
- After federal, FICA and Georgia income tax, retained pay for paving, surfacing, and tamping equipment operators on $46,100 is $37,520. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $38,801 in national-average terms. ⚠️ That figure is purchasing power, not a wage, and nobody is paid it; it is what the take-home buys. The mean of $47,540 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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Pay band: Paving, Surfacing, and Tamping Equipment Operators
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $37,870 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $46,100 |
| Top tenth earn over | $59,130 |
| This salary | $46,100 |
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 Georgia | $37,520 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $39,221 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$1,561 |
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 | $43,982 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$1,888 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 97 |
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 paving, surfacing, and tamping equipment operators in Georgia earn under $46,100 and half over. The published range runs $37,870 at the tenth percentile to $59,130 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Georgia's $37,520, worked from $46,100. 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 346 of 492.
- Two cautions on $38,801, the adjusted value of that $46,100 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Georgia. 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 346 of 492 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for paving, surfacing, and tamping equipment operators in Georgia, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $37,870 to $59,130; 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.
- The Georgia take-home of $37,520, on $46,100 for work ranking 346 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 346 of 492 in the state.
- This $38,801 adjusted figure, worked from $46,100, 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 346 of 492 in the state. The occupation ranks 346 of 492 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
No — it is the middle. Half of these workers earn more and half earn less. The average is $47,540, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $37,870 at the bottom tenth to $59,130 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Georgia is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $38,801 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 Georgia adds its own income tax on top — which is why $37,520 of this wage survives to your account.
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 50 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 Georgia is $47,540. 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 ($37,870 to $59,130) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Georgia rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Georgia'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 $38,801 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 $37,520 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Georgia 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 50 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.