Tax Preparers in Maine
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$38,202
after federal, FICA and Maine tax
Tax takes
$8,948
19.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$39,345
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
$47,150
Kept after tax
$38,202
Worth in national money
$39,345
State rank
29
of 48 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. Maine is 29 of 48 states for tax preparers, with a middle wage of $47,150. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- Within Maine this is lower-paid work. Of 484 occupations the state publishes figures for, tax preparers ranks 367. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $47,150 the take-home is $38,202, which is worth about $39,345 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is higher, $49,600, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Maine ranks 29 of 48 for tax preparers at $47,150. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- Against every occupation Maine reports, tax preparers ranks 367 of 484, in the lowest quartile of the state's distribution. That position is set by the local labor market and is independent of how the state compares nationally for this work.
- Maine's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for tax preparers on its $47,150 median: $38,202 retained after tax becomes $39,345 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $49,600 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Tax Preparers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $38,800 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $47,150 |
| Top tenth earn over | $63,260 |
| This salary | $47,150 |
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 | $38,202 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $40,065 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$1,885 |
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 | $44,832 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$2,280 |
| 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 tax preparers in Maine earn under $47,150 and half over. The published range runs $38,800 at the tenth percentile to $63,260 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Maine's $38,202, worked from $47,150. 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 367 of 484.
- One number stands for prices across all of Maine, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $39,345, the adjusted value of that $47,150 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 367 of 484 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for tax preparers in Maine, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $38,800 to $63,260; 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.
- The Maine take-home of $38,202, on $47,150 for work ranking 367 of 484 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 367 of 484 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Maine, so $39,345 — the adjusted value of that $47,150 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 367 of 484 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $49,600, 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 $38,800 and the top tenth $63,260, so most people doing this work in Maine sit within a fairly tight band.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Maine is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $39,345 in national terms.
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 Maine's own levy, $38,202 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 48 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 Maine is $49,600. 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 ($38,800 to $63,260) 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 $39,345 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 $38,202 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 48 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.