Pharmacists in Arizona
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$108,422
after federal, FICA and Arizona tax
Tax takes
$38,508
26.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$107,237
Arizona costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Arizona — 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
$146,930
Kept after tax
$108,422
Worth in national money
$107,237
State rank
12
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Arizona is one of the better-paying states for pharmacists. The middle earner takes $146,930, which ranks 12 of 51 states with published figures. That is about 4.27% above the national middle.
- Locally, this pays well. Among 491 occupations Arizona reports, pharmacists comes in at 10 — comfortably in the upper quarter.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $146,930 the take-home is $108,422, which is worth about $107,237 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is lower, $142,330, so pay clusters nearer the top than usual.
- Arizona ranks 12 of 51 states publishing a median for pharmacists, at $146,930 — about 4.27% above the national median. A state's position on nominal pay is the figure wage tables report and the least informative of the three on this page, because it survives neither the tax adjustment nor the price adjustment intact for most occupations.
- Pharmacists ranks 10 of 491 occupations by median in Arizona, in the top quartile. Within-state position is largely independent of national position, so this holds regardless of how the state compares to others for the same work.
- Arizona's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for pharmacists on its $146,930 median: $108,422 retained after tax becomes $107,237 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $142,330 falls below the median, a left skew that is uncommon in wage data.
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Pay band: Pharmacists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $103,490 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $146,930 |
| Top tenth earn over | $171,660 |
| This salary | $146,930 |
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 Arizona | $108,422 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $111,693 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$7,703 |
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 | $142,145 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$10,951 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 101 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Arizona earn less than $146,930. The published range is $103,490 up to $171,660, 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 Arizona's $108,422, worked from $146,930. 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 10 of 491.
- Two cautions on $107,237, the adjusted value of that $146,930 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Arizona. 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 10 of 491 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for pharmacists in Arizona the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $103,490 to $171,660. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The Arizona take-home of $108,422, on $146,930 for work ranking 10 of 491 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 10 of 491 in the state.
- This $107,237 adjusted figure, worked from $146,930, 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 10 of 491 in the state. The occupation ranks 10 of 491 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 $142,330 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $103,490 at the tenth percentile, $171,660 at the ninetieth.
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 $107,237 of national purchasing power.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Three of them are federal and one is not. After income tax, Social Security, Medicare and Arizona's own levy, $108,422 remains.
Can I compare this job across every state?
Yes for this one. Pay is published in all 51 jurisdictions, so a state-to-state comparison here rests on the same survey everywhere rather than on a patchwork.
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 Arizona is $142,330. 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 is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($103,490 to $171,660) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Arizona rather than a national figure.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
Arizona's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $107,237 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 $108,422 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Arizona 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.
Is this occupation's state coverage complete?
State-level estimates are published for all 51 jurisdictions for this occupation, so cross-state comparison is not confounded by suppression. ⚠️ Estimates remain survey-based and carry sampling error; small differences between adjacent states should not be over-read.