Refuse and Recyclable Material Collectors in Utah
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$47,196
after federal, FICA and Utah tax
Tax takes
$12,114
20.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$49,679
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
$59,310
Kept after tax
$47,196
Worth in national money
$49,679
State rank
11
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is strong here. Utah's middle earner gets $59,310, putting the state 11 of 51 — about 19.36% ahead of the national figure.
- Against other work in Utah, this sits in the middle: 238 of 487 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Utah is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $59,310 the take-home is $47,196; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $49,679 would nationally. The average lands at $56,420, below the middle of the range.
- For refuse and recyclable material collectors, Utah sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $59,310, ranking 11 of 51 and running about 19.36% above the national midpoint. Nominal advantage of this size is usually, though not always, large enough to survive the state's own tax and price levels.
- Refuse and recyclable material collectors ranks 238 of 487 occupations in Utah 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.
- Post-tax income for refuse and recyclable material collectors in Utah, on $59,310, is $47,196 — equivalent to $49,679 once regional price parity is applied. ⚠️ The adjustment uses a statewide index that describes no particular address; within-state price variation, concentrated in housing, routinely exceeds the difference between two states. At $56,420 the mean undershoots the median, an inversion of the usual skew.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Refuse and Recyclable Material Collectors
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $42,990 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $59,310 |
| Top tenth earn over | $72,930 |
| This salary | $59,310 |
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 | $47,196 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $49,836 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$1,605 |
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 | $56,025 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$1,941 |
| 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 refuse and recyclable material collectors in Utah earn under $59,310 and half over. The published range runs $42,990 at the tenth percentile to $72,930 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 $47,196, worked from $59,310. 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 238 of 487.
- One number stands for prices across all of Utah, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $49,679, the adjusted value of that $59,310 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 238 of 487 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for refuse and recyclable material collectors in Utah, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $42,990 to $72,930; 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 $47,196, on $59,310 for work ranking 238 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 238 of 487 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Utah, so $49,679 — the adjusted value of that $59,310 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 238 of 487 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $56,420, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $42,990 at the tenth percentile, $72,930 at the ninetieth.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in Utah sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $49,679 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 Utah adds its own income tax on top — which is why $47,196 of this wage survives to your account.
Can I compare this job across every state?
This occupation is published everywhere — all 51 of them — so comparing states measures real differences rather than gaps in the data.
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 $56,420. 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 ($42,990 to $72,930) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Utah rather than a national figure.
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 $49,679 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 $47,196 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.