Postal Service Mail Sorters, Processors, and Processing Machine Operators in Alaska
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$46,654
after federal, FICA and Alaska tax
Tax takes
$8,696
15.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$45,867
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
$55,350
Kept after tax
$46,654
Worth in national money
$45,867
State rank
46
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Alaska is among the lower-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $55,350, ranking 46 of 51 states — about 5.34% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
- Against other work in Alaska, this sits in the middle: 290 of 430 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $55,350 the take-home is $46,654, which is worth about $45,867 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is higher, $56,360, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Alaska ranks 46 of 51 for postal service mail sorters, processors, and processing machine operators, with a median of $55,350 — about 5.34% 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.
- Postal service mail sorters, processors, and processing machine operators ranks 290 of 430 occupations in Alaska 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.
- Alaska's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for postal service mail sorters, processors, and processing machine operators on its $55,350 median: $46,654 retained after tax becomes $45,867 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $56,360 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Postal Service Mail Sorters, Processors, and Processing Machine Operators
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $42,600 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $55,350 |
| Top tenth earn over | $75,030 |
| This salary | $55,350 |
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 | $46,654 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $46,654 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$2,143 |
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 | $55,350 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$2,592 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 102 |
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 postal service mail sorters, processors, and processing machine operators in Alaska earn under $55,350 and half over. The published range runs $42,600 at the tenth percentile to $75,030 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In Alaska the take-home figure of $46,654, from $55,350, assumes one filer, no dependants, and nothing paid into a pension before tax. Each of those lowers the bill, so treat it as the plain case. City and school-district income taxes are not included either, and in a few states those are real money. It ranks 290 of 430 occupations here.
- One number stands for prices across all of Alaska, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $45,867, the adjusted value of that $55,350 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 290 of 430 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for postal service mail sorters, processors, and processing machine operators in Alaska, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $42,600 to $75,030; 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.
- Take-home for Alaska is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $46,654 from $55,350. Each omitted item reduces taxable income, so the figure is a lower bound on retained pay for this household shape. Municipal and school-district income taxes are excluded, which understates the burden materially in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The occupation ranks 290 of 430 locally.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Alaska, so $45,867 — the adjusted value of that $55,350 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 290 of 430 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $42,600 at the bottom tenth to $75,030 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
Not on its own. Prices in Alaska run above the national level, so the same dollars buy less here. Adjusted for that, this pay is worth $45,867 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
No. $46,654 survives, because Alaska levies no wage income tax. The federal share does not change with the state you work in.
Can I compare this job across every state?
All 51 jurisdictions report this work, which makes the ranking a like-for-like one.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($42,600 to $75,030) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Alaska rather than a national figure.
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 $45,867 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 $46,654 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.
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.