Paving, Surfacing, and Tamping Equipment Operators in Vermont
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$44,655
after federal, FICA and Vermont tax
Tax takes
$10,175
18.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$46,210
Vermont costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Vermont — 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
$54,830
Kept after tax
$44,655
Worth in national money
$46,210
State rank
26
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. Vermont is 26 of 50 states for this job, with a middle wage of $54,830. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- Against other work in Vermont, this sits in the middle: 282 of 453 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Here is where Vermont does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $54,830 you keep $44,655, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $46,210 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $56,820, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Vermont ranks 26 of 50 for paving, surfacing, and tamping equipment operators at $54,830. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- Paving, surfacing, and tamping equipment operators ranks 282 of 453 occupations in Vermont 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 Vermont income tax, retained pay for paving, surfacing, and tamping equipment operators on $54,830 is $44,655. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $46,210 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 $56,820 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 | $49,920 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $54,830 |
| Top tenth earn over | $62,060 |
| This salary | $54,830 |
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 Vermont | $44,655 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $46,236 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$1,370 |
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 | $52,863 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$1,656 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 97 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $54,830 as a midpoint for Vermont, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $49,920 and the ninetieth is $62,060 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In Vermont the take-home figure of $44,655, from $54,830, assumes one filer, no dependants, and nothing paid into a pension before tax. Each of those lowers the bill, so treat it as the plain case. City and school-district income taxes are not included either, and in a few states those are real money. It ranks 282 of 453 occupations here.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $46,210 uses one figure for the whole of Vermont. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 453 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 282.
- The Vermont median of $54,830 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $49,920 to $62,060. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Take-home for Vermont is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $44,655 from $54,830. Each omitted item reduces taxable income, so the figure is a lower bound on retained pay for this household shape. Municipal and school-district income taxes are excluded, which understates the burden materially in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The occupation ranks 282 of 453 locally.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $46,210, worked from $54,830, 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 Vermont address, on work sitting at 282 of 453 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 $56,820 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $49,920 and the top tenth $62,060, so most people doing this work in Vermont sit within a fairly tight band.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in Vermont sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $46,210 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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; Vermont then takes its own share, leaving $44,655.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 50 states here, and a missing state means too few reports, not no jobs.
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 Vermont is $56,820. 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 ($49,920 to $62,060) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Vermont rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Vermont'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 $46,210 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 $44,655 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Vermont 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.