Switchboard Operators, Including Answering Service in Wisconsin
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$33,224
after federal, FICA and Wisconsin tax
Tax takes
$6,806
17.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$35,688
Wisconsin costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Wisconsin — 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
$40,030
Kept after tax
$33,224
Worth in national money
$35,688
State rank
15
of 46 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is strong here. Wisconsin's middle earner gets $40,030, putting the state 15 of 46 — about 3.62% ahead of the national figure.
- Against 491 occupations Wisconsin publishes, this job lands at 420. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Here is where Wisconsin does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $40,030 you keep $33,224, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $35,688 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $43,200, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For switchboard operators, including answering service, Wisconsin sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $40,030, ranking 15 of 46 and running about 3.62% above the national midpoint. Nominal advantage of this size is usually, though not always, large enough to survive the state's own tax and price levels.
- Within Wisconsin, this work ranks 420 of 491 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.
- After federal, FICA and Wisconsin income tax, retained pay for switchboard operators, including answering service on $40,030 is $33,224. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $35,688 in national-average terms. ⚠️ That figure is purchasing power, not a wage, and nobody is paid it; it is what the take-home buys. The mean of $43,200 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Switchboard Operators, Including Answering Service
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $36,040 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $40,030 |
| Top tenth earn over | $57,420 |
| This salary | $40,030 |
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 Wisconsin | $33,224 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $34,344 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$345 |
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 | $38,636 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$417 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 93 |
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 switchboard operators, including answering service in Wisconsin earn under $40,030 and half over. The published range runs $36,040 at the tenth percentile to $57,420 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In Wisconsin the take-home figure of $33,224, from $40,030, 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 420 of 491 occupations here.
- One number stands for prices across all of Wisconsin, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $35,688, the adjusted value of that $40,030 median, as a way to compare states fairly, not as a quote for any particular place. The two datasets are also from different years. This job sits at 420 of 491 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for switchboard operators, including answering service in Wisconsin, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $36,040 to $57,420; 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 Wisconsin is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $33,224 from $40,030. 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 420 of 491 locally.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Wisconsin, so $35,688 — the adjusted value of that $40,030 median — establishes comparability between states rather than accuracy within one. The wage and parity series are dated independently, each following its own publication cycle, and neither is projected forward. This occupation sits at 420 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
Half earn more than this and half earn less. The average sits at $43,200 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $36,040 and the top tenth $57,420, so most people doing this work in Wisconsin 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 $35,688.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Four deductions, stacked. The federal layer and the two payroll taxes apply wherever you work; Wisconsin then takes its own share, leaving $33,224.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 46 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 Wisconsin is $43,200. 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 ($36,040 to $57,420) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Wisconsin rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Wisconsin'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 $35,688 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 $33,224 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Wisconsin 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 46 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.