Public Safety Telecommunicators in Pennsylvania
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$40,735
after federal, FICA and Pennsylvania tax
Tax takes
$9,155
18.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$41,779
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
$49,890
Kept after tax
$40,735
Worth in national money
$41,779
State rank
34
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pennsylvania sits in the middle of the pack for this job. The median is $49,890, ranking 34 of 51 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: 313 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 $49,890 the take-home is $40,735, which is worth about $41,779 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is higher, $52,070, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Pennsylvania occupies the middle band for public safety telecommunicators: a median of $49,890, ranking 34 of 51. Where nominal pay is close to the national figure, the tax and price adjustments below carry proportionally more weight in determining the real outcome.
- Public safety telecommunicators ranks 313 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 public safety telecommunicators on its $49,890 median: $40,735 retained after tax becomes $41,779 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $52,070 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Public Safety Telecommunicators
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $39,350 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $49,890 |
| Top tenth earn over | $64,370 |
| This salary | $49,890 |
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 | $40,735 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $42,267 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$1,716 |
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 | $47,984 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$2,075 |
| 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 $49,890. The published range is $39,350 up to $64,370, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $40,735 take-home in Pennsylvania comes from $49,890. 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 313 of 492.
- Two cautions on $41,779, the adjusted value of that $49,890 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Pennsylvania. 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 313 of 492 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for public safety telecommunicators in Pennsylvania the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $39,350 to $64,370. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $40,735, from $49,890, 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 313 of 492 locally, and the state ranks 34 of 51 for it.
- This $41,779 adjusted figure, worked from $49,890, 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 313 of 492 in the state. The occupation ranks 313 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 $52,070, 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?
The range here is narrow. From $39,350 at the bottom tenth to $64,370 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
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 $41,779.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Three of them are federal and one is not. After income tax, Social Security, Medicare and Pennsylvania's own levy, $40,735 remains.
Can I compare this job across every state?
Yes for this one. Pay is published in all 51 jurisdictions, so a state-to-state comparison here rests on the same survey everywhere rather than on a patchwork.
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 $52,070. 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 ($39,350 to $64,370) 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 $41,779 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 $40,735 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.
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.