Photographers in Arizona
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$31,364
after federal, FICA and Arizona tax
Tax takes
$5,606
15.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$31,021
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
$36,970
Kept after tax
$31,364
Worth in national money
$31,021
State rank
41
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Arizona is among the lower-paying states for photographers. The middle earner takes $36,970, ranking 41 of 49 states — about 17.22% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
- Measured against other jobs in Arizona, this one sits low: 454 of 491 occupations with published pay, in the bottom quarter.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $36,970, tax leaves $31,364, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $31,021 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $47,330, since top earners drag the number up.
- Arizona ranks 41 of 49 for photographers, with a median of $36,970 — about 17.22% below the national figure. A nominal shortfall is not by itself a real one: lower-paying states frequently carry lower tax and lower price levels, and the adjusted figures below are where that is settled rather than assumed.
- Photographers occupies position 454 of 491 in Arizona'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 Arizona sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for photographers — median $36,970 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $31,364 retained, $31,021 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $47,330 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Photographers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $32,080 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $36,970 |
| Top tenth earn over | $84,130 |
| This salary | $36,970 |
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 | $31,364 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $31,885 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$1,791 |
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 | $36,321 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$2,167 |
| 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 $36,970. The published range is $32,080 up to $84,130, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $31,364 take-home in Arizona comes from $36,970. 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 454 of 491.
- One number stands for prices across all of Arizona, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $31,021, the adjusted value of that $36,970 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 454 of 491 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for photographers in Arizona the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $32,080 to $84,130. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $31,364, from $36,970, assumes a single Arizona 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 454 of 491 locally, and the state ranks 41 of 49 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Arizona, so $31,021 — the adjusted value of that $36,970 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 454 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 $47,330 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $32,080, the highest tenth $84,130, 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 $31,021 of national purchasing power.
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; Arizona then takes its own share, leaving $31,364.
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 Arizona is $47,330. 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 drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($32,080) and the ninetieth ($84,130) 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?
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 $31,021 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 $31,364 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.
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.