Power Plant Operators in Vermont
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$60,818
after federal, FICA and Vermont tax
Tax takes
$17,422
22.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$62,936
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
$78,240
Kept after tax
$60,818
Worth in national money
$62,936
State rank
47
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Vermont is among the lower-paying states for power plant operators. The middle earner takes $78,240, ranking 47 of 49 states — about 23.32% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
- Against other work in Vermont, this sits in the middle: 124 of 453 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $78,240 you keep $60,818 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $62,936 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $85,450, since top earners drag the number up.
- Vermont ranks 47 of 49 for power plant operators, with a median of $78,240 — about 23.32% 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.
- Power plant operators ranks 124 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.
- Retained pay in Vermont is $60,818 after the full tax stack, from $78,240. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $62,936 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $85,450 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 | $49,110 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $78,240 |
| Top tenth earn over | $127,790 |
| This salary | $78,240 |
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 | $60,818 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $63,872 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$2,792 |
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 | $73,900 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$3,857 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 97 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $78,240 as a midpoint for Vermont, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $49,110 and the ninetieth is $127,790 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In Vermont the take-home figure of $60,818, from $78,240, 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 124 of 453 occupations here.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $62,936 uses one figure for the whole of Vermont. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 453 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 124.
- The Vermont median of $78,240 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $49,110 to $127,790. 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 Vermont is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $60,818 from $78,240. 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 124 of 453 locally.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $62,936, worked from $78,240, 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 Vermont address, on work sitting at 124 of 453 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 $85,450 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?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $49,110 and the top tenth $127,790 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
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 $62,936 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Four deductions, stacked. The federal layer and the two payroll taxes apply wherever you work; Vermont then takes its own share, leaving $60,818.
Why is this job missing from some states?
Because the survey suppresses a figure when too few employers report it. This occupation has published pay in 49 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
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 $85,450. 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 ($49,110) and the ninetieth ($127,790) 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?
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 $62,936 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 $60,818 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.
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.