Sales and Related Workers, All Other in North Carolina
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$32,064
after federal, FICA and North Carolina tax
Tax takes
$6,406
16.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$34,061
North Carolina costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in North Carolina — 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
$38,470
Kept after tax
$32,064
Worth in national money
$34,061
State rank
30
of 48 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. North Carolina is 30 of 48 states for this job, with a middle wage of $38,470. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- Within North Carolina this is lower-paid work. Of 489 occupations the state publishes figures for, this job ranks 413. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $38,470 you keep $32,064 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $34,061 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $49,860, since top earners drag the number up.
- North Carolina ranks 30 of 48 for sales and related workers, all other at $38,470. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- Against every occupation North Carolina reports, sales and related workers, all other ranks 413 of 489, in the lowest quartile of the state's distribution. That position is set by the local labor market and is independent of how the state compares nationally for this work.
- Retained pay in North Carolina is $32,064 after the full tax stack, from $38,470. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $34,061 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $49,860 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Sales and Related Workers, All Other
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $28,170 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $38,470 |
| Top tenth earn over | $92,830 |
| This salary | $38,470 |
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 North Carolina | $32,064 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $33,091 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$8 |
The raise and the real gain point in opposite directions here.
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 | $37,193 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$10 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 94 |
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 sales and related workers, all other in North Carolina earn under $38,470 and half over. The published range runs $28,170 at the tenth percentile to $92,830 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $32,064 take-home in North Carolina comes from $38,470. 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 413 of 489.
- Two cautions on $34,061, the adjusted value of that $38,470 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of North Carolina. 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 413 of 489 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for sales and related workers, all other in North Carolina, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $28,170 to $92,830; 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.
- Retained pay of $32,064, from $38,470, assumes a single North Carolina 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 413 of 489 locally, and the state ranks 30 of 48 for it.
- This $34,061 adjusted figure, worked from $38,470, 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 413 of 489 in the state. The occupation ranks 413 of 489 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 $49,860, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $28,170 and the top tenth $92,830 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in North Carolina sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $34,061 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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 North Carolina's own levy, $32,064 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 48 states here, and a missing state means too few reports, not no jobs.
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 North Carolina is $49,860. 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 drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($28,170) and the ninetieth ($92,830) exceeds the family median dispersion. SOC codes aggregate roles differing in seniority, industry and specialisation, and BLS does not disaggregate below the detailed occupation level, so within-title variance is not separable from the published series.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
North Carolina'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 $34,061 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 $32,064 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and North Carolina 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.
Why does this occupation lack published estimates in every state?
BLS suppresses estimates failing disclosure or reliability criteria. This occupation has published state-level estimates in 48 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.