Pharmacy Technicians in Maine
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$36,914
after federal, FICA and Maine tax
Tax takes
$8,486
18.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$38,018
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
$45,400
Kept after tax
$36,914
Worth in national money
$38,018
State rank
27
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Maine pays pharmacy technicians around $45,400 at the midpoint, 27 of 51 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Against 484 occupations Maine publishes, pharmacy technicians lands at 394. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $45,400, tax leaves $36,914, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $38,018 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $45,850, since top earners drag the number up.
- For pharmacy technicians the Maine median is $45,400, ranking 27 of 51 states reporting. Mid-band nominal positions are the ones most frequently reordered by the adjustments, because no large wage premium exists to absorb a state's tax or price level.
- Within Maine, this work ranks 394 of 484 occupations by median pay, in the bottom quartile. The within-state position is the more salient one for anyone weighing this job against alternatives available to them locally.
- Because Maine sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for pharmacy technicians — median $45,400 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $36,914 retained, $38,018 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $45,850 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Pharmacy Technicians
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $37,060 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $45,400 |
| Top tenth earn over | $57,360 |
| This salary | $45,400 |
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 Maine | $36,914 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $38,659 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$1,765 |
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 | $43,229 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$2,134 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 97 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $45,400 as a midpoint for Maine, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $37,060 and the ninetieth is $57,360 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $36,914 take-home in Maine comes from $45,400. 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 394 of 484.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $38,018 uses one figure for the whole of Maine. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 484 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 394.
- The Maine median of $45,400 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $37,060 to $57,360. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Retained pay of $36,914, from $45,400, assumes a single Maine 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 394 of 484 locally, and the state ranks 27 of 51 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $38,018, worked from $45,400, 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 Maine address, on work sitting at 394 of 484 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $37,060 and the top tenth $57,360, 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 $38,018 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Into four separate taxes, not one. Federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare apply everywhere, and Maine adds its own income tax on top — which is why $36,914 of this wage survives to your account.
Can I compare this job across every state?
This occupation is published everywhere — all 51 of them — so comparing states measures real differences rather than gaps in the data.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($37,060 to $57,360) 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 $38,018 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 $36,914 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.
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.