Retail Salespersons in Pennsylvania
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$26,291
after federal, FICA and Pennsylvania tax
Tax takes
$4,909
15.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$26,965
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
$31,200
Kept after tax
$26,291
Worth in national money
$26,965
State rank
40
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for retail salespersons is on the low side in Pennsylvania. The middle earner gets $31,200. That is 40 of 51 states, and about 11.89% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Against 492 occupations Pennsylvania publishes, retail salespersons lands at 474. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $31,200, tax leaves $26,291, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $26,965 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $34,530, since top earners drag the number up.
- For retail salespersons, Pennsylvania sits in the lower band at $31,200, ranking 40 of 51 and trailing the national median by about 11.89%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Within Pennsylvania, this work ranks 474 of 492 occupations by median pay, in the bottom quartile. The within-state position is the more salient one for anyone weighing this job against alternatives available to them locally.
- Because Pennsylvania sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for retail salespersons — median $31,200 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $26,291 retained, $26,965 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $34,530 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Retail Salespersons
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $23,770 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $31,200 |
| Top tenth earn over | $46,130 |
| This salary | $31,200 |
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 | $26,291 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $27,249 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$1,076 |
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 | $30,008 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$1,301 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 98 |
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 retail salespersons in Pennsylvania earn under $31,200 and half over. The published range runs $23,770 at the tenth percentile to $46,130 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In Pennsylvania the take-home figure of $26,291, from $31,200, 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 474 of 492 occupations here.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $26,965 uses one figure for the whole of Pennsylvania. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 492 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 474.
- Figures are distribution medians for retail salespersons in Pennsylvania, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $23,770 to $46,130; 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.
- Take-home for Pennsylvania is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $26,291 from $31,200. 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 474 of 492 locally.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $26,965, worked from $31,200, deflates by a statewide parity that conceals substantial intra-state variation, concentrated in housing — so it supports comparison between states rather than the pricing of a move to a particular Pennsylvania address, on work sitting at 474 of 492 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 $34,530 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $23,770 at the tenth percentile, $46,130 at the ninetieth.
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 $26,965.
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 Pennsylvania adds its own income tax on top — which is why $26,291 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 Pennsylvania is $34,530. 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 ($23,770 to $46,130) 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 $26,965 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 $26,291 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.