Paving, Surfacing, and Tamping Equipment Operators in Nevada
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$43,480
after federal, FICA and Nevada tax
Tax takes
$7,920
15.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$44,834
Nevada costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Nevada — 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
$51,400
Kept after tax
$43,480
Worth in national money
$44,834
State rank
30
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Nevada sits in the middle of the pack for this job. The median is $51,400, ranking 30 of 50 states with figures. Close enough to the national middle that where you live matters more than the headline suggests.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 298 among 485 occupations Nevada publishes pay for.
- Nevada is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $51,400 the take-home is $43,480; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $44,834 would nationally. The average comes to $57,210, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Nevada occupies the middle band for paving, surfacing, and tamping equipment operators: a median of $51,400, ranking 30 of 50. Where nominal pay is close to the national figure, the tax and price adjustments below carry proportionally more weight in determining the real outcome.
- Position 298 of 485 in Nevada 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.
- Post-tax income for paving, surfacing, and tamping equipment operators in Nevada, on $51,400, is $43,480 — equivalent to $44,834 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 $57,210 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
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Pay band: Paving, Surfacing, and Tamping Equipment Operators
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $38,610 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $51,400 |
| Top tenth earn over | $79,140 |
| This salary | $51,400 |
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 Nevada | $43,480 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $43,480 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$90 |
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 | $51,400 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$109 |
| 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 Nevada earn under $51,400 and half over. The published range runs $38,610 at the tenth percentile to $79,140 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $43,480 take-home in Nevada comes from $51,400. It is the no-frills case: single filer, standard deduction, nothing set aside before tax. Real circumstances almost always reduce the tax. City and school-district taxes are not counted at all. Locally the work ranks 298 of 485.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $44,834 uses one figure for the whole of Nevada. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 485 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 298.
- Figures are distribution medians for paving, surfacing, and tamping equipment operators in Nevada, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $38,610 to $79,140; 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.
- Retained pay of $43,480, from $51,400, assumes a single Nevada filer with the standard deduction and no elective deferrals. Pre-tax retirement or HSA contributions, dependants and itemized deductions all reduce it further; local income taxes, excluded here, would increase it in the states that levy them. This occupation ranks 298 of 485 locally, and the state ranks 30 of 50 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $44,834, worked from $51,400, 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 Nevada address, on work sitting at 298 of 485 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 $57,210, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $38,610 and the top tenth $79,140 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
A smaller wage in a cheaper place is not automatically less. Adjusted for local prices, this is worth $44,834.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Most of it arrives. $43,480 lands after tax, since there is no state income tax on wages here — though the federal floor is identical in every state.
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 Nevada is $57,210. 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 ($38,610) and the ninetieth ($79,140) 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?
Nevada'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 $44,834 in national-average terms. The adjustment uses an all-items index and does not isolate housing.
Why is the take-home ratio comparatively high in this state?
Nevada levies no personal income tax on wages, so take-home of $43,480 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.