Photographers in Pennsylvania
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$33,494
after federal, FICA and Pennsylvania tax
Tax takes
$7,026
17.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$34,353
Pennsylvania costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Pennsylvania — 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
$40,520
Kept after tax
$33,494
Worth in national money
$34,353
State rank
27
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pennsylvania sits in the middle of the pack for photographers. The median is $40,520, ranking 27 of 49 states with figures. Close enough to the national middle that where you live matters more than the headline suggests.
- Measured against other jobs in Pennsylvania, this one sits low: 411 of 492 occupations with published pay, in the bottom quarter.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $40,520, tax leaves $33,494, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $34,353 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $49,190, since top earners drag the number up.
- Pennsylvania occupies the middle band for photographers: a median of $40,520, ranking 27 of 49. Where nominal pay is close to the national figure, the tax and price adjustments below carry proportionally more weight in determining the real outcome.
- Photographers occupies position 411 of 492 in Pennsylvania'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 Pennsylvania sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for photographers — median $40,520 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $33,494 retained, $34,353 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $49,190 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Photographers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $29,020 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $40,520 |
| Top tenth earn over | $75,100 |
| This salary | $40,520 |
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 Pennsylvania | $33,494 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $34,738 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$1,395 |
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 | $38,972 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$1,687 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 98 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- A median is the middle, not an offer. Half of photographers in Pennsylvania earn under $40,520 and half over. The published range runs $29,020 at the tenth percentile to $75,100 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Pennsylvania's $33,494, worked from $40,520. 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 411 of 492.
- One number stands for prices across all of Pennsylvania, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $34,353, the adjusted value of that $40,520 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 411 of 492 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for photographers in Pennsylvania, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $29,020 to $75,100; within-state dispersion of that width routinely exceeds the dispersion between states, so tenure, employer and metropolitan area predict an individual's pay better than geography does.
- The Pennsylvania take-home of $33,494, on $40,520 for work ranking 411 of 492 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 411 of 492 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Pennsylvania, so $34,353 — the adjusted value of that $40,520 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 411 of 492 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $49,190, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $29,020 and the top tenth $75,100 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in Pennsylvania sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $34,353 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 Pennsylvania's own levy, $33,494 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 49 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release one.
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 Pennsylvania is $49,190. 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 ($29,020) and the ninetieth ($75,100) 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.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Pennsylvania'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 $34,353 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 $33,494 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Pennsylvania 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.