Paving, Surfacing, and Tamping Equipment Operators in New York
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$49,816
after federal, FICA and New York tax
Tax takes
$12,944
20.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$46,286
New York costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in New York — 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
$62,760
Kept after tax
$49,816
Worth in national money
$46,286
State rank
14
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is strong here. New York's middle earner gets $62,760, putting the state 14 of 50 — about 17.66% ahead of the national figure.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 493 occupations New York reports figures for, this is number 268.
- Costs eat into it here. Of $62,760, tax leaves $49,816 — and because New York is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $46,286 would nationally. Averages run higher here, $72,330, since top earners drag the number up.
- For paving, surfacing, and tamping equipment operators, New York sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $62,760, ranking 14 of 50 and running about 17.66% above the national midpoint. Nominal advantage of this size is usually, though not always, large enough to survive the state's own tax and price levels.
- In New York's occupational distribution, paving, surfacing, and tamping equipment operators sits at 268 of 493 — neither quartile. This local position is what a resident compares against, and it is determined by the state's own labor market rather than by national patterns for this occupation.
- After tax, $49,816 remains from the New York median of $62,760 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $46,286 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $72,330 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Paving, Surfacing, and Tamping Equipment Operators
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $48,450 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $62,760 |
| Top tenth earn over | $104,350 |
| This salary | $62,760 |
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 New York | $49,816 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $52,608 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$7,851 |
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 | $59,285 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$9,495 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 108 |
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 New York earn under $62,760 and half over. The published range runs $48,450 at the tenth percentile to $104,350 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 New York's $49,816, worked from $62,760. 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 268 of 493.
- One number stands for prices across all of New York, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $46,286, the adjusted value of that $62,760 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 268 of 493 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for paving, surfacing, and tamping equipment operators in New York, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $48,450 to $104,350; 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 New York take-home of $49,816, on $62,760 for work ranking 268 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 268 of 493 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for New York, so $46,286 — the adjusted value of that $62,760 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 268 of 493 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 $72,330, 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?
The label is broader than the work. From $48,450 at the bottom tenth to $104,350 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
The number and the value are different things. New York costs more than the national average, so this take-home stretches like $46,286 rather than its face figure.
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; New York then takes its own share, leaving $49,816.
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 New York is $72,330. 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 ($48,450) and the ninetieth ($104,350) 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.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
New York's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $46,286 in national-average terms. ⚠️ RPPs are an all-items index; housing parities vary far more widely than the headline figure.
What accounts for the gap between gross wage and take-home here?
Take-home of $49,816 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and New York 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.