Postal Service Mail Sorters, Processors, and Processing Machine Operators in Kansas
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$43,248
after federal, FICA and Kansas tax
Tax takes
$11,292
20.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$48,072
Kansas costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Kansas — 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
$54,540
Kept after tax
$43,248
Worth in national money
$48,072
State rank
49
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is on the low side in Kansas. The middle earner gets $54,540. That is 49 of 51 states, and about 6.72% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 488 occupations Kansas reports figures for, this is number 252.
- Here is where Kansas does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $54,540 you keep $43,248, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $48,072 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $55,710, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For postal service mail sorters, processors, and processing machine operators, Kansas sits in the lower band at $54,540, ranking 49 of 51 and trailing the national median by about 6.72%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- In Kansas's occupational distribution, postal service mail sorters, processors, and processing machine operators sits at 252 of 488 — neither quartile. This local position is what a resident compares against, and it is determined by the state's own labor market rather than by national patterns for this occupation.
- After federal, FICA and Kansas income tax, retained pay for postal service mail sorters, processors, and processing machine operators on $54,540 is $43,248. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $48,072 in national-average terms. ⚠️ That figure is purchasing power, not a wage, and nobody is paid it; it is what the take-home buys. The mean of $55,710 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 | $39,560 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $54,540 |
| Top tenth earn over | $75,280 |
| This salary | $54,540 |
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 Kansas | $43,248 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $46,003 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$732 |
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 | $51,112 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$885 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $54,540 as a midpoint for Kansas, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $39,560 and the ninetieth is $75,280 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $43,248 take-home in Kansas comes from $54,540. 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 252 of 488.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $48,072 uses one figure for the whole of Kansas. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 488 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 252.
- The Kansas median of $54,540 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $39,560 to $75,280. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Retained pay of $43,248, from $54,540, assumes a single Kansas 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 252 of 488 locally, and the state ranks 49 of 51 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $48,072, worked from $54,540, deflates by a statewide parity that conceals substantial intra-state variation, concentrated in housing — so it supports comparison between states rather than the pricing of a move to a particular Kansas address, on work sitting at 252 of 488 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $39,560 at the tenth percentile, $75,280 at the ninetieth.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in Kansas sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $48,072 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Into four separate taxes, not one. Federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare apply everywhere, and Kansas adds its own income tax on top — which is why $43,248 of this wage survives to your account.
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 ($39,560 to $75,280) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Kansas rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Kansas'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 $48,072 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 $43,248 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Kansas 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.
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.