Septic Tank Servicers and Sewer Pipe Cleaners in Vermont
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$37,964
after federal, FICA and Vermont tax
Tax takes
$8,176
17.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$39,286
Vermont costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Vermont — 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
$46,140
Kept after tax
$37,964
Worth in national money
$39,286
State rank
40
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Vermont pays this job a middle wage of $46,140, 40 of 49 states and about 7.5% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Against 453 occupations Vermont publishes, this job lands at 374. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $46,140 you keep $37,964 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $39,286 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $48,960, since top earners drag the number up.
- Vermont's $46,140 median for septic tank servicers and sewer pipe cleaners places it 40 of 49 states, about 7.5% below national. Because both the tax and price adjustments tend to favor lower-nominal states, this ranking is the least stable of the three reported here.
- Within Vermont, this work ranks 374 of 453 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.
- Retained pay in Vermont is $37,964 after the full tax stack, from $46,140. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $39,286 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $48,960 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Septic Tank Servicers and Sewer Pipe Cleaners
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $39,780 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $46,140 |
| Top tenth earn over | $62,750 |
| This salary | $46,140 |
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 Vermont | $37,964 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $39,253 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$1,109 |
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 | $44,535 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$1,341 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 97 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $46,140 as a midpoint for Vermont, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $39,780 and the ninetieth is $62,750 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In Vermont the take-home figure of $37,964, from $46,140, 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 374 of 453 occupations here.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $39,286 uses one figure for the whole of Vermont. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 453 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 374.
- The Vermont median of $46,140 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $39,780 to $62,750. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Take-home for Vermont is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $37,964 from $46,140. 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 374 of 453 locally.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $39,286, worked from $46,140, 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 Vermont address, on work sitting at 374 of 453 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 $48,960, 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?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $39,780 at the tenth percentile, $62,750 at the ninetieth.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in Vermont sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $39,286 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 Vermont's own levy, $37,964 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
Because the survey suppresses a figure when too few employers report it. This occupation has published pay in 49 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
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 Vermont is $48,960. 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 ($39,780 to $62,750) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Vermont rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Vermont'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 $39,286 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 $37,964 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Vermont 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 49 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.