Switchboard Operators, Including Answering Service in Alaska
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$32,464
after federal, FICA and Alaska tax
Tax takes
$5,226
13.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$31,917
Alaska costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Alaska — 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
$37,690
Kept after tax
$32,464
Worth in national money
$31,917
State rank
25
of 46 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Alaska sits in the middle of the pack for this job. The median is $37,690, ranking 25 of 46 states with figures. Close enough to the national middle that where you live matters more than the headline suggests.
- Measured against other jobs in Alaska, this one sits low: 401 of 430 occupations with published pay, in the bottom quarter.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $37,690, tax leaves $32,464, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $31,917 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $39,850, since top earners drag the number up.
- Alaska occupies the middle band for switchboard operators, including answering service: a median of $37,690, ranking 25 of 46. Where nominal pay is close to the national figure, the tax and price adjustments below carry proportionally more weight in determining the real outcome.
- Switchboard operators, including answering service occupies position 401 of 430 in Alaska's occupational wage distribution, in the bottom quartile. National ranking and local ranking answer different questions and frequently disagree; this is the one a resident experiences.
- Because Alaska sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for switchboard operators, including answering service — median $37,690 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $32,464 retained, $31,917 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $39,850 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Switchboard Operators, Including Answering Service
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $33,860 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $37,690 |
| Top tenth earn over | $51,630 |
| This salary | $37,690 |
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 Alaska | $32,464 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $32,464 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$1,491 |
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 | $37,690 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$1,803 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 102 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $37,690 as a midpoint for Alaska, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $33,860 and the ninetieth is $51,630 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Alaska's $32,464, worked from $37,690. That is on purpose. It lets states be compared with each other, not with each other's family circumstances. Local city taxes are left out. Locally this work ranks 401 of 430.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $31,917 uses one figure for the whole of Alaska. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 430 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 401.
- The Alaska median of $37,690 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $33,860 to $51,630. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- The Alaska take-home of $32,464, on $37,690 for work ranking 401 of 430 locally, models the simplest household deliberately: holding it constant is what makes the interstate comparison meaningful. It also means the absolute figure overstates liability for most real filers, and municipal income taxes are outside the model entirely. The occupation ranks 401 of 430 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $31,917, worked from $37,690, 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 Alaska address, on work sitting at 401 of 430 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $39,850, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $33,860 and the top tenth $51,630, so most people doing this work in Alaska sit within a fairly tight band.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
Not on its own. Prices in Alaska run above the national level, so the same dollars buy less here. Adjusted for that, this pay is worth $31,917 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Most of it arrives. $32,464 lands after tax, since there is no state income tax on wages here — though the federal floor is identical in every state.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 46 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release one.
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 Alaska is $39,850. 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 ($33,860 to $51,630) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Alaska rather than a national figure.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
Alaska's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $31,917 in national-average terms. ⚠️ RPPs are an all-items index; housing parities vary far more widely than the headline figure.
Why is the take-home ratio comparatively high in this state?
Alaska levies no personal income tax on wages, so take-home of $32,464 reflects the federal layer and FICA alone. Federal income tax and FICA are unchanged; states without a wage income tax generally recover revenue through consumption and property bases instead.
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 46 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.