Project Management Specialists in Utah

May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$72,568
after federal, FICA and Utah tax
Tax takes
$24,152
25.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$76,386
Utah costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Utah — 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
$96,720
Kept after tax
$72,568
Worth in national money
$76,386
State rank
30
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Utah pays project management specialists around $96,720 at the midpoint, 30 of 51 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Locally, this pays well. Among 487 occupations Utah reports, project management specialists comes in at 76 — comfortably in the upper quarter.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $96,720 you keep $72,568 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $76,386 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $101,770, since top earners drag the number up.
- For project management specialists the Utah median is $96,720, ranking 30 of 51 states reporting. Mid-band nominal positions are the ones most frequently reordered by the adjustments, because no large wage premium exists to absorb a state's tax or price level.
- Project management specialists ranks 76 of 487 occupations by median in Utah, 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.
- Retained pay in Utah is $72,568 after the full tax stack, from $96,720. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $76,386 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $101,770 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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: Project Management Specialists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $56,840 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $96,720 |
| Top tenth earn over | $159,240 |
| This salary | $96,720 |
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 Utah | $72,568 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $76,873 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$2,721 |
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 | $90,602 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$3,759 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 95 |
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 project management specialists in Utah earn under $96,720 and half over. The published range runs $56,840 at the tenth percentile to $159,240 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 Utah's $72,568, worked from $96,720. 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 76 of 487.
- One number stands for prices across all of Utah, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $76,386, the adjusted value of that $96,720 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 76 of 487 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for project management specialists in Utah, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $56,840 to $159,240; 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 Utah take-home of $72,568, on $96,720 for work ranking 76 of 487 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 76 of 487 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Utah, so $76,386 — the adjusted value of that $96,720 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 76 of 487 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 $101,770 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?
The label is broader than the work. From $56,840 at the bottom tenth to $159,240 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
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 $76,386.
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; Utah then takes its own share, leaving $72,568.
Can I compare this job across every state?
All 51 jurisdictions report this work, which makes the ranking a like-for-like 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 Utah is $101,770. 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 ($56,840) and the ninetieth ($159,240) 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?
Utah'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 $76,386 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 $72,568 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Utah 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.
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.