Photographers in Utah

A camera, paintbrushes and fabric swatches on a creative studio table.

May 2025 wages · tax year 2026

You keep

$41,754

after federal, FICA and Utah tax

Tax takes

$10,386

19.9% of the whole

Worth, in national money

$43,951

Utah costs less than average

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

$52,140

Kept after tax

$41,754

Worth in national money

$43,951

State rank

5

of 49 states

What this pays, and what it is worth

  • This is a good state for the work. Utah pays photographers a middle wage of $52,140, ranking 5 of 49 states and sitting about 16.75% above the national middle.
  • Against other work in Utah, this sits in the middle: 285 of 487 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
  • Utah is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $52,140 the take-home is $41,754; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $43,951 would nationally. The average lands at $51,290, below the middle of the range.
  • Utah's median for photographers is $52,140, about 16.75% above the national figure and 5 of 49 states reporting. Whether that premium reaches the worker depends on the two adjustments below, which is the part a wage table cannot tell you.
  • Photographers ranks 285 of 487 occupations in Utah by median pay, in the middle bands. Within-state and national positions are separate measurements and a job commonly sits in different quartiles on each.
  • Post-tax income for photographers in Utah, on $52,140, is $41,754 — equivalent to $43,951 once regional price parity is applied. ⚠️ The adjustment uses a statewide index that describes no particular address; within-state price variation, concentrated in housing, routinely exceeds the difference between two states. At $51,290 the mean undershoots the median, an inversion of the usual skew.

Compare this career across states

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Pay band: Photographers

The state median for this job

50thpercentile, roughly
Lowest tenth earn under$31,440
Half earn under$52,140
Top tenth earn over$81,070
This salary$52,140

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

Compare with
+$2,320take-home per year in Texas
Take-home in Utah$41,754
Take-home in Texas$44,074
Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity+$1,405

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

Moving to
$0now · $52,140$50,441
$50,441in Texas, for the same life
To match take-home only$49,252
You could take a cut of−$1,699
Prices in Texas97 vs 95

State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.

Sources and assumptions
  • Half the people doing this work in Utah earn less than $52,140. The published range is $31,440 up to $81,070, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
  • One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Utah's $41,754, worked from $52,140. 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 285 of 487.
  • One number stands for prices across all of Utah, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $43,951, the adjusted value of that $52,140 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 285 of 487 in the state.
  • Reported values are medians; for photographers in Utah the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $31,440 to $81,070. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
  • The Utah take-home of $41,754, on $52,140 for work ranking 285 of 487 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 285 of 487 in the state.
  • Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Utah, so $43,951 — the adjusted value of that $52,140 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 285 of 487 locally.

Questions people ask

Why is the pay range for this job so wide?

One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $31,440, the highest tenth $81,070, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.

What does this pay actually buy where I live?

A smaller wage in a cheaper place is not automatically less. Adjusted for local prices, this is worth $43,951.

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 Utah's own levy, $41,754 remains.

Why is this job missing from some states?

The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 49 states here, and a missing state means too few reports, not no jobs.

What drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?

Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($31,440) and the ninetieth ($81,070) 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?

Utah'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 $43,951 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 $41,754 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Utah 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.