Probation Officers and Correctional Treatment Specialists in Pennsylvania
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$54,157
after federal, FICA and Pennsylvania tax
Tax takes
$13,213
19.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$55,545
Pennsylvania costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Pennsylvania — 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
$67,370
Kept after tax
$54,157
Worth in national money
$55,545
State rank
20
of 46 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pennsylvania sits in the middle of the pack for this job. The median is $67,370, ranking 20 of 46 states with figures. Close enough to the national middle that where you live matters more than the headline suggests.
- Against other work in Pennsylvania, this sits in the middle: 178 of 492 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $67,370 the take-home is $54,157, which is worth about $55,545 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is higher, $69,440, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Pennsylvania occupies the middle band for probation officers and correctional treatment specialists: a median of $67,370, ranking 20 of 46. Where nominal pay is close to the national figure, the tax and price adjustments below carry proportionally more weight in determining the real outcome.
- Probation officers and correctional treatment specialists ranks 178 of 492 occupations in Pennsylvania 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.
- Pennsylvania's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for probation officers and correctional treatment specialists on its $67,370 median: $54,157 retained after tax becomes $55,545 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $69,440 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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: Probation Officers and Correctional Treatment Specialists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $48,340 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $67,370 |
| Top tenth earn over | $89,750 |
| This salary | $67,370 |
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 Pennsylvania | $54,157 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $56,225 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$2,314 |
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 | $64,688 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$2,907 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 98 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Pennsylvania earn less than $67,370. The published range is $48,340 up to $89,750, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $54,157 take-home in Pennsylvania comes from $67,370. It is the no-frills case: single filer, standard deduction, nothing set aside before tax. Real circumstances almost always reduce the tax. City and school-district taxes are not counted at all. Locally the work ranks 178 of 492.
- One number stands for prices across all of Pennsylvania, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $55,545, the adjusted value of that $67,370 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 178 of 492 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for probation officers and correctional treatment specialists in Pennsylvania the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $48,340 to $89,750. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $54,157, from $67,370, assumes a single Pennsylvania filer with the standard deduction and no elective deferrals. Pre-tax retirement or HSA contributions, dependants and itemized deductions all reduce it further; local income taxes, excluded here, would increase it in the states that levy them. This occupation ranks 178 of 492 locally, and the state ranks 20 of 46 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Pennsylvania, so $55,545 — the adjusted value of that $67,370 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 178 of 492 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
No — it is the middle. Half of these workers earn more and half earn less. The average is $69,440, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $48,340 and the top tenth $89,750, so most people doing this work in Pennsylvania sit within a fairly tight band.
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 $55,545.
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; Pennsylvania then takes its own share, leaving $54,157.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 46 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release one.
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 Pennsylvania is $69,440. 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 is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($48,340 to $89,750) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Pennsylvania rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Pennsylvania'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 $55,545 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 $54,157 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Pennsylvania 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 46 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.