Pharmacy Aides in Maine
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$31,464
after federal, FICA and Maine tax
Tax takes
$6,596
17.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$32,405
Maine costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Maine — 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
$38,060
Kept after tax
$31,464
Worth in national money
$32,405
State rank
12
of 48 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for pharmacy aides is strong here. Maine's middle earner gets $38,060, putting the state 12 of 48 — about 1.01% ahead of the national figure.
- Measured against other jobs in Maine, this one sits low: 450 of 484 occupations with published pay, in the bottom quarter.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $38,060, tax leaves $31,464, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $32,405 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $39,820, since top earners drag the number up.
- For pharmacy aides, Maine sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $38,060, ranking 12 of 48 and running about 1.01% 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.
- Pharmacy aides occupies position 450 of 484 in Maine's occupational wage distribution, in the bottom quartile. National ranking and local ranking answer different questions and frequently disagree; this is the one a resident experiences.
- Because Maine sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for pharmacy aides — median $38,060 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $31,464 retained, $32,405 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $39,820 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Pharmacy Aides
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $35,870 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $38,060 |
| Top tenth earn over | $45,590 |
| This salary | $38,060 |
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 Maine | $31,464 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $32,761 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$1,309 |
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 | $36,446 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$1,583 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 97 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Maine earn less than $38,060. The published range is $35,870 up to $45,590, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- In Maine the take-home figure of $31,464, from $38,060, 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 450 of 484 occupations here.
- One number stands for prices across all of Maine, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $32,405, the adjusted value of that $38,060 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 450 of 484 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for pharmacy aides in Maine the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $35,870 to $45,590. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Take-home for Maine is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $31,464 from $38,060. 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 450 of 484 locally.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Maine, so $32,405 — the adjusted value of that $38,060 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 450 of 484 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 $39,820 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 $35,870 and the top tenth $45,590, so most people doing this work in Maine sit within a fairly tight band.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in Maine sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $32,405 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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 Maine's own levy, $31,464 remains.
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 48 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 Maine is $39,820. 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 ($35,870 to $45,590) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Maine rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Maine'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 $32,405 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 $31,464 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Maine 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 48 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.