Postal Service Mail Sorters, Processors, and Processing Machine Operators in Vermont
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$48,164
after federal, FICA and Vermont tax
Tax takes
$11,326
19.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$49,841
Vermont costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Vermont — 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
$59,490
Kept after tax
$48,164
Worth in national money
$49,841
State rank
14
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Vermont is one of the better-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $59,490, which ranks 14 of 51 states with published figures. That is about 1.74% above the national middle.
- Against other work in Vermont, this sits in the middle: 239 of 453 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Vermont is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $59,490 the take-home is $48,164; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $49,841 would nationally. The average comes to $62,580, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Vermont ranks 14 of 51 states publishing a median for postal service mail sorters, processors, and processing machine operators, at $59,490 — about 1.74% above the national median. A state's position on nominal pay is the figure wage tables report and the least informative of the three on this page, because it survives neither the tax adjustment nor the price adjustment intact for most occupations.
- Postal service mail sorters, processors, and processing machine operators ranks 239 of 453 occupations in Vermont 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 postal service mail sorters, processors, and processing machine operators in Vermont, on $59,490, is $48,164 — equivalent to $49,841 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 $62,580 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
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 | $48,880 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $59,490 |
| Top tenth earn over | $75,280 |
| This salary | $59,490 |
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 Vermont | $48,164 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $49,980 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$1,592 |
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 | $57,230 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$1,925 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 97 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $59,490 as a midpoint for Vermont, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $48,880 and the ninetieth is $75,280 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Vermont's $48,164, worked from $59,490. 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 239 of 453.
- One number stands for prices across all of Vermont, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $49,841, the adjusted value of that $59,490 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 239 of 453 in the state.
- The Vermont median of $59,490 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $48,880 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.
- The Vermont take-home of $48,164, on $59,490 for work ranking 239 of 453 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 239 of 453 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Vermont, so $49,841 — the adjusted value of that $59,490 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 239 of 453 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $62,580, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $48,880 at the bottom tenth to $75,280 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in Vermont sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $49,841 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 Vermont's own levy, $48,164 remains.
Can I compare this job across every state?
Yes for this one. Pay is published in all 51 jurisdictions, so a state-to-state comparison here rests on the same survey everywhere rather than on a patchwork.
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 Vermont is $62,580. 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 is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($48,880 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 Vermont rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Vermont'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 $49,841 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 $48,164 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Vermont 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.