Tax Preparers in Pennsylvania
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$49,529
after federal, FICA and Pennsylvania tax
Tax takes
$11,741
19.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$50,799
Pennsylvania costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Pennsylvania — 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
$61,270
Kept after tax
$49,529
Worth in national money
$50,799
State rank
10
of 48 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pennsylvania is one of the better-paying states for tax preparers. The middle earner takes $61,270, which ranks 10 of 48 states with published figures. That is about 11.56% above the national middle.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 492 occupations Pennsylvania reports figures for, this is number 224.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $61,270 the take-home is $49,529, which is worth about $50,799 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is higher, $66,780, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Pennsylvania ranks 10 of 48 states publishing a median for tax preparers, at $61,270 — about 11.56% above the national median. A state's position on nominal pay is the figure wage tables report and the least informative of the three on this page, because it survives neither the tax adjustment nor the price adjustment intact for most occupations.
- In Pennsylvania's occupational distribution, tax preparers sits at 224 of 492 — neither quartile. This local position is what a resident compares against, and it is determined by the state's own labor market rather than by national patterns for this occupation.
- Pennsylvania's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for tax preparers on its $61,270 median: $49,529 retained after tax becomes $50,799 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $66,780 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
Choose your filing status and local taxes, compare pay, and keep a shortlist.Compare wage and personal-pay outcomes by state, with selected resident local taxes and saved career choices.
Pay band: Tax Preparers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $31,200 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $61,270 |
| Top tenth earn over | $103,570 |
| This salary | $61,270 |
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 Pennsylvania | $49,529 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $51,410 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$2,106 |
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 | $58,929 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$2,546 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 98 |
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 Pennsylvania earn under $61,270 and half over. The published range runs $31,200 at the tenth percentile to $103,570 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In Pennsylvania the take-home figure of $49,529, from $61,270, 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 224 of 492 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $50,799, the adjusted value of that $61,270 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Pennsylvania. 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 224 of 492 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for tax preparers in Pennsylvania, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $31,200 to $103,570; 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 Pennsylvania is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $49,529 from $61,270. 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 224 of 492 locally.
- This $50,799 adjusted figure, worked from $61,270, 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 224 of 492 in the state. The occupation ranks 224 of 492 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 $66,780 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
The label is broader than the work. From $31,200 at the bottom tenth to $103,570 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
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 $50,799.
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 Pennsylvania's own levy, $49,529 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 Pennsylvania is $66,780. 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 drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($31,200) and the ninetieth ($103,570) exceeds the family median dispersion. SOC codes aggregate roles differing in seniority, industry and specialisation, and BLS does not disaggregate below the detailed occupation level, so within-title variance is not separable from the published series.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Pennsylvania'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 $50,799 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 $49,529 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Pennsylvania 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.