Photographers in Alaska
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$33,669
after federal, FICA and Alaska tax
Tax takes
$5,521
14.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$33,101
Alaska costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Alaska — 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
$39,190
Kept after tax
$33,669
Worth in national money
$33,101
State rank
30
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. Alaska is 30 of 49 states for photographers, with a middle wage of $39,190. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- Within Alaska this is lower-paid work. Of 430 occupations the state publishes figures for, photographers ranks 396. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- No great distortion either way. Alaska costs about what the country costs, so from $39,190, take-home of $33,669 is worth roughly $33,101 in national money. The average comes to $50,090, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Alaska ranks 30 of 49 for photographers at $39,190. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- Against every occupation Alaska reports, photographers ranks 396 of 430, in the lowest quartile of the state's distribution. That position is set by the local labor market and is independent of how the state compares nationally for this work.
- Price parity in Alaska is near the national base, so for photographers, whose median is $39,190, the adjusted figure of $33,101 differs little from $33,669 retained after tax. The state's position for this occupation is therefore set by wage and tax rather than by living costs. At $50,090 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Photographers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $34,040 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $39,190 |
| Top tenth earn over | $101,430 |
| This salary | $39,190 |
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 Alaska | $33,669 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $33,669 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$1,547 |
The raise and the real gain point in opposite directions here.
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 | $39,190 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$1,870 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 102 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Alaska earn less than $39,190. The published range is $34,040 up to $101,430, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $33,669 take-home in Alaska comes from $39,190. 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 396 of 430.
- Two cautions on $33,101, the adjusted value of that $39,190 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Alaska. 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 396 of 430 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for photographers in Alaska the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $34,040 to $101,430. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $33,669, from $39,190, assumes a single Alaska 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 396 of 430 locally, and the state ranks 30 of 49 for it.
- This $33,101 adjusted figure, worked from $39,190, 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 396 of 430 in the state. The occupation ranks 396 of 430 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 $50,090, 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?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $34,040, the highest tenth $101,430, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
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 $33,101 of national purchasing power.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Most of it arrives. $33,669 lands after tax, since there is no state income tax on wages here — though the federal floor is identical in every state.
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 49 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 Alaska is $50,090. 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 ($34,040) and the ninetieth ($101,430) 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?
Alaska's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $33,101 in national-average terms. ⚠️ RPPs are an all-items index; housing parities vary far more widely than the headline figure.
Why is the take-home ratio comparatively high in this state?
Alaska levies no personal income tax on wages, so take-home of $33,669 reflects the federal layer and FICA alone. Federal income tax and FICA are unchanged; states without a wage income tax generally recover revenue through consumption and property bases instead.
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 49 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.