Surgical Technologists in Arizona
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$58,261
after federal, FICA and Arizona tax
Tax takes
$13,999
19.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$57,624
Arizona costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Arizona — 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
$72,260
Kept after tax
$58,261
Worth in national money
$57,624
State rank
18
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Arizona pays surgical technologists around $72,260 at the midpoint, 18 of 51 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Against other work in Arizona, this sits in the middle: 153 of 491 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $72,260, tax leaves $58,261, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $57,624 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $72,640, since top earners drag the number up.
- For surgical technologists the Arizona median is $72,260, ranking 18 of 51 states reporting. Mid-band nominal positions are the ones most frequently reordered by the adjustments, because no large wage premium exists to absorb a state's tax or price level.
- Surgical technologists ranks 153 of 491 occupations in Arizona by median pay, in the middle bands. Within-state and national positions are separate measurements and a job commonly sits in different quartiles on each.
- Because Arizona sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for surgical technologists — median $72,260 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $58,261 retained, $57,624 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $72,640 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Surgical Technologists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $50,030 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $72,260 |
| Top tenth earn over | $96,840 |
| This salary | $72,260 |
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 Arizona | $58,261 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $59,665 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$3,775 |
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 | $70,264 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$5,215 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 101 |
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 surgical technologists in Arizona earn under $72,260 and half over. The published range runs $50,030 at the tenth percentile to $96,840 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $58,261 take-home in Arizona comes from $72,260. 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 153 of 491.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $57,624 uses one figure for the whole of Arizona. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 491 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 153.
- Figures are distribution medians for surgical technologists in Arizona, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $50,030 to $96,840; 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 $58,261, from $72,260, assumes a single Arizona 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 153 of 491 locally, and the state ranks 18 of 51 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $57,624, worked from $72,260, 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 Arizona address, on work sitting at 153 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $50,030 and the top tenth $96,840, so most people doing this work in Arizona sit within a fairly tight band.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
A larger wage in a dearer place is not automatically more. Adjusted for local prices, this pay behaves like $57,624 of national purchasing power.
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 Arizona adds its own income tax on top — which is why $58,261 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.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($50,030 to $96,840) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Arizona rather than a national figure.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
Arizona's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $57,624 in national-average terms. ⚠️ RPPs are an all-items index; housing parities vary far more widely than the headline figure.
What accounts for the gap between gross wage and take-home here?
Take-home of $58,261 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Arizona 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.