Power Plant Operators in Alaska
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$71,350
after federal, FICA and Alaska tax
Tax takes
$17,520
19.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$70,147
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
$88,870
Kept after tax
$71,350
Worth in national money
$70,147
State rank
40
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Alaska is among the lower-paying states for power plant operators. The middle earner takes $88,870, ranking 40 of 49 states — about 12.91% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. Power plant operators ranks 115 among 430 occupations Alaska publishes pay for.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $88,870 the take-home is $71,350, which is worth about $70,147 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is higher, $89,690, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Alaska ranks 40 of 49 for power plant operators, with a median of $88,870 — about 12.91% 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.
- Position 115 of 430 in Alaska places power plant operators in the middle of the state's wage distribution. Because within-state and cross-state rankings measure different things, this figure and the national one above should be read together rather than as a single verdict.
- Alaska's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for power plant operators on its $88,870 median: $71,350 retained after tax becomes $70,147 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $89,690 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Power Plant Operators
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $43,260 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $88,870 |
| Top tenth earn over | $135,690 |
| This salary | $88,870 |
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 | $71,350 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $71,350 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$3,277 |
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 | $88,870 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$4,527 |
| 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 power plant operators in Alaska earn under $88,870 and half over. The published range runs $43,260 at the tenth percentile to $135,690 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 Alaska's $71,350, worked from $88,870. 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 115 of 430.
- One number stands for prices across all of Alaska, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $70,147, the adjusted value of that $88,870 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 115 of 430 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for power plant operators in Alaska, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $43,260 to $135,690; 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 Alaska take-home of $71,350, on $88,870 for work ranking 115 of 430 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 115 of 430 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Alaska, so $70,147 — the adjusted value of that $88,870 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 115 of 430 locally.
Questions people ask
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $43,260 and the top tenth $135,690 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
The number and the value are different things. Alaska costs more than the national average, so this take-home stretches like $70,147 rather than its face figure.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Less than people assume. $71,350 of this wage reaches your account, because Alaska takes no income tax from wages — but federal tax, Social Security and Medicare still apply exactly as they do everywhere else.
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.
What drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($43,260) and the ninetieth ($135,690) 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.
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 $70,147 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 $71,350 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.
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.