Power Plant Operators in Kansas
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$60,922
after federal, FICA and Kansas tax
Tax takes
$19,058
23.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$67,717
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
$79,980
Kept after tax
$60,922
Worth in national money
$67,717
State rank
45
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for power plant operators is on the low side in Kansas. The middle earner gets $79,980. That is 45 of 49 states, and about 21.62% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Locally, this pays well. Among 488 occupations Kansas reports, power plant operators comes in at 98 — comfortably in the upper quarter.
- Kansas is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $79,980 the take-home is $60,922; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $67,717 would nationally. The average comes to $85,850, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For power plant operators, Kansas sits in the lower band at $79,980, ranking 45 of 49 and trailing the national median by about 21.62%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Power plant operators ranks 98 of 488 occupations by median in Kansas, in the top quartile. Within-state position is largely independent of national position, so this holds regardless of how the state compares to others for the same work.
- Post-tax income for power plant operators in Kansas, on $79,980, is $60,922 — equivalent to $67,717 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 $85,850 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
Choose your filing status and local taxes, compare pay, and keep a shortlist.Compare wage and personal-pay outcomes by state, with selected resident local taxes and saved career choices.
Pay band: Power Plant Operators
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $46,580 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $79,980 |
| Top tenth earn over | $129,990 |
| This salary | $79,980 |
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 | $60,922 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $65,096 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$729 |
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 | $74,046 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,006 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $79,980 as a midpoint for Kansas, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $46,580 and the ninetieth is $129,990 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In Kansas the take-home figure of $60,922, from $79,980, 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 98 of 488 occupations here.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $67,717 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 98.
- The Kansas median of $79,980 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $46,580 to $129,990. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Take-home for Kansas is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $60,922 from $79,980. 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 98 of 488 locally.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $67,717, worked from $79,980, 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 98 of 488 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
Half earn more than this and half earn less. The average sits at $85,850 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $46,580, the highest tenth $129,990, 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 $67,717.
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 Kansas's own levy, $60,922 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.
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 Kansas is $85,850. 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 drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($46,580) and the ninetieth ($129,990) 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?
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 $67,717 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 $60,922 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.
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.