Power Plant Operators in Maine
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$61,702
after federal, FICA and Maine tax
Tax takes
$19,358
23.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$63,547
Maine costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Maine — 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
$81,060
Kept after tax
$61,702
Worth in national money
$63,547
State rank
44
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for power plant operators is on the low side in Maine. The middle earner gets $81,060. That is 44 of 49 states, and about 20.56% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in Maine. It ranks 117 out of 484 occupations the state publishes figures for, which puts it in the top quarter locally.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $81,060, tax leaves $61,702, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $63,547 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $83,380, since top earners drag the number up.
- For power plant operators, Maine sits in the lower band at $81,060, ranking 44 of 49 and trailing the national median by about 20.56%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Within Maine, power plant operators ranks 117 of 484 occupations by median pay, placing it in the top quartile of the local distribution. This is the comparison a resident actually makes — against neighbors rather than against the same job elsewhere.
- Because Maine sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for power plant operators — median $81,060 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $61,702 retained, $63,547 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $83,380 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Power Plant Operators
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $61,220 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $81,060 |
| Top tenth earn over | $106,910 |
| This salary | $81,060 |
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 Maine | $61,702 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $65,856 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$4,223 |
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 | $75,156 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$5,834 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 97 |
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 Maine earn under $81,060 and half over. The published range runs $61,220 at the tenth percentile to $106,910 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 Maine's $61,702, worked from $81,060. 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 117 of 484.
- Two cautions on $63,547, the adjusted value of that $81,060 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Maine. No actual address matches that. The wage figures and price figures are also from different years. Each is published on its own timetable. This work sits at 117 of 484 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for power plant operators in Maine, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $61,220 to $106,910; 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 Maine take-home of $61,702, on $81,060 for work ranking 117 of 484 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 117 of 484 in the state.
- This $63,547 adjusted figure, worked from $81,060, rests on a state-level price parity averaging over within-state dispersion larger than much of the between-state dispersion. Wage and price vintages differ by publication schedule. The result is directionally sound and not address-specific, for work at 117 of 484 in the state. The occupation ranks 117 of 484 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $61,220 at the bottom tenth to $106,910 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
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 $63,547.
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 Maine adds its own income tax on top — which is why $61,702 of this wage survives to your account.
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 is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($61,220 to $106,910) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Maine rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Maine'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 $63,547 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 $61,702 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Maine 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.