Printing Press Operators in Alaska
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$39,511
after federal, FICA and Alaska tax
Tax takes
$6,949
15.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$38,844
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
$46,460
Kept after tax
$39,511
Worth in national money
$38,844
State rank
16
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Alaska is one of the better-paying states for printing press operators. The middle earner takes $46,460, which ranks 16 of 51 states with published figures. That is about 1.49% above the national middle.
- Measured against other jobs in Alaska, this one sits low: 353 of 430 occupations with published pay, in the bottom quarter.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $46,460 the take-home is $39,511, which is worth about $38,844 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is higher, $47,750, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Alaska ranks 16 of 51 states publishing a median for printing press operators, at $46,460 — about 1.49% 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.
- Printing press operators occupies position 353 of 430 in Alaska's occupational wage distribution, in the bottom quartile. National ranking and local ranking answer different questions and frequently disagree; this is the one a resident experiences.
- Alaska's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for printing press operators on its $46,460 median: $39,511 retained after tax becomes $38,844 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $47,750 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Printing Press Operators
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $30,660 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $46,460 |
| Top tenth earn over | $65,440 |
| This salary | $46,460 |
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 | $39,511 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $39,511 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$1,815 |
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 | $46,460 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$2,195 |
| 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 printing press operators in Alaska earn under $46,460 and half over. The published range runs $30,660 at the tenth percentile to $65,440 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 $39,511, worked from $46,460. 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 353 of 430.
- One number stands for prices across all of Alaska, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $38,844, the adjusted value of that $46,460 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 353 of 430 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for printing press operators in Alaska, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $30,660 to $65,440; 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 $39,511, on $46,460 for work ranking 353 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 353 of 430 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Alaska, so $38,844 — the adjusted value of that $46,460 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 353 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 $30,660 and the top tenth $65,440 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
Not on its own. Prices in Alaska run above the national level, so the same dollars buy less here. Adjusted for that, this pay is worth $38,844 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
No. $39,511 survives, because Alaska levies no wage income tax. The federal share does not change with the state you work in.
Can I compare this job across every state?
All 51 jurisdictions report this work, which makes the ranking a like-for-like one.
What drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($30,660) and the ninetieth ($65,440) 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 $38,844 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 $39,511 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.
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.