Public Safety Telecommunicators in Georgia
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$35,025
after federal, FICA and Georgia tax
Tax takes
$7,765
18.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$36,221
Georgia costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Georgia — 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
$42,790
Kept after tax
$35,025
Worth in national money
$36,221
State rank
45
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Georgia is among the lower-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $42,790, ranking 45 of 51 states — about 19.33% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
- Measured against other jobs in Georgia, this one sits low: 381 of 492 occupations with published pay, in the bottom quarter.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $42,790 you keep $35,025 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $36,221 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $44,570, since top earners drag the number up.
- Georgia ranks 45 of 51 for public safety telecommunicators, with a median of $42,790 — about 19.33% 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.
- Public safety telecommunicators occupies position 381 of 492 in Georgia'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.
- Retained pay in Georgia is $35,025 after the full tax stack, from $42,790. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $36,221 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $44,570 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Public Safety Telecommunicators
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $31,820 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $42,790 |
| Top tenth earn over | $59,760 |
| This salary | $42,790 |
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 Georgia | $35,025 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $36,562 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$1,404 |
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 | $40,878 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$1,698 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 97 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $42,790 as a midpoint for Georgia, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $31,820 and the ninetieth is $59,760 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In Georgia the take-home figure of $35,025, from $42,790, 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 381 of 492 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $36,221, the adjusted value of that $42,790 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Georgia. 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 381 of 492 locally.
- The Georgia median of $42,790 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $31,820 to $59,760. 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 Georgia is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $35,025 from $42,790. 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 381 of 492 locally.
- This $36,221 adjusted figure, worked from $42,790, 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 381 of 492 in the state. The occupation ranks 381 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 $44,570, 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 $31,820 and the top tenth $59,760, so most people doing this work in Georgia sit within a fairly tight band.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in Georgia sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $36,221 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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 Georgia adds its own income tax on top — which is why $35,025 of this wage survives to your account.
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 Georgia is $44,570. 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 ($31,820 to $59,760) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Georgia rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Georgia'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 $36,221 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 $35,025 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Georgia 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.