Retail Salespersons in Maine
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$30,406
after federal, FICA and Maine tax
Tax takes
$6,234
17.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$31,315
Maine costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Maine — 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
$36,640
Kept after tax
$30,406
Worth in national money
$31,315
State rank
10
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Maine is one of the better-paying states for retail salespersons. The middle earner takes $36,640, which ranks 10 of 51 states with published figures. That is about 3.47% above the national middle.
- Measured against other jobs in Maine, this one sits low: 468 of 484 occupations with published pay, in the bottom quarter.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $36,640 the take-home is $30,406, which is worth about $31,315 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is higher, $40,050, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Maine ranks 10 of 51 states publishing a median for retail salespersons, at $36,640 — about 3.47% above the national median. A state's position on nominal pay is the figure wage tables report and the least informative of the three on this page, because it survives neither the tax adjustment nor the price adjustment intact for most occupations.
- Retail salespersons occupies position 468 of 484 in Maine'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.
- Maine's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for retail salespersons on its $36,640 median: $30,406 retained after tax becomes $31,315 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $40,050 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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Pay band: Retail Salespersons
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $31,300 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $36,640 |
| Top tenth earn over | $49,500 |
| This salary | $36,640 |
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 Maine | $30,406 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $31,620 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$1,225 |
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 | $35,128 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$1,481 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 97 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Maine earn less than $36,640. The published range is $31,300 up to $49,500, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Maine's $30,406, worked from $36,640. 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 468 of 484.
- Two cautions on $31,315, the adjusted value of that $36,640 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Maine. 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 468 of 484 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for retail salespersons in Maine the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $31,300 to $49,500. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The Maine take-home of $30,406, on $36,640 for work ranking 468 of 484 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 468 of 484 in the state.
- This $31,315 adjusted figure, worked from $36,640, 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 468 of 484 in the state. The occupation ranks 468 of 484 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $40,050, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $31,300 and the top tenth $49,500, so most people doing this work in Maine sit within a fairly tight band.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Maine is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $31,315 in national terms.
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 Maine adds its own income tax on top — which is why $30,406 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 Maine is $40,050. 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 ($31,300 to $49,500) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Maine rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Maine'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 $31,315 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 $30,406 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Maine 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.