Sewing Machine Operators in Maine
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$35,531
after federal, FICA and Maine tax
Tax takes
$7,989
18.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$36,593
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
$43,520
Kept after tax
$35,531
Worth in national money
$36,593
State rank
4
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. Maine pays sewing machine operators a middle wage of $43,520, ranking 4 of 50 states and sitting about 18.68% above the national middle.
- Against 484 occupations Maine publishes, sewing machine operators lands at 417. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $43,520, tax leaves $35,531, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $36,593 in comparable terms. Here the average runs under the middle, at $42,450.
- Maine's median for sewing machine operators is $43,520, about 18.68% above the national figure and 4 of 50 states reporting. Whether that premium reaches the worker depends on the two adjustments below, which is the part a wage table cannot tell you.
- Within Maine, this work ranks 417 of 484 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 Maine sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for sewing machine operators — median $43,520 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $35,531 retained, $36,593 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $42,450 sits under the median, so the lower tail is the longer one.
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Pay band: Sewing Machine Operators
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $32,760 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $43,520 |
| Top tenth earn over | $49,460 |
| This salary | $43,520 |
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 | $35,531 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $37,148 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$1,635 |
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 | $41,507 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$1,978 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 97 |
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 sewing machine operators in Maine earn under $43,520 and half over. The published range runs $32,760 at the tenth percentile to $49,460 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In Maine the take-home figure of $35,531, from $43,520, 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 417 of 484 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $36,593, the adjusted value of that $43,520 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 417 of 484 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for sewing machine operators in Maine, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $32,760 to $49,460; 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 Maine is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $35,531 from $43,520. 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 417 of 484 locally.
- This $36,593 adjusted figure, worked from $43,520, 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 417 of 484 in the state. The occupation ranks 417 of 484 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $32,760 and the top tenth $49,460, so most people doing this work in Maine sit within a fairly tight band.
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 $36,593.
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 $35,531 of this wage survives to your account.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 50 states here, and a missing state means too few reports, not no jobs.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($32,760 to $49,460) 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 $36,593 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 $35,531 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.
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 50 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.