Tax Preparers in Utah
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$52,798
after federal, FICA and Utah tax
Tax takes
$13,922
20.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$55,576
Utah costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Utah — 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
$66,720
Kept after tax
$52,798
Worth in national money
$55,576
State rank
3
of 48 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for tax preparers is strong here. Utah's middle earner gets $66,720, putting the state 3 of 48 — about 21.49% ahead of the national figure.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. Tax preparers ranks 170 among 487 occupations Utah publishes pay for.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $66,720 you keep $52,798 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $55,576 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $67,520, since top earners drag the number up.
- For tax preparers, Utah sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $66,720, ranking 3 of 48 and running about 21.49% 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.
- Position 170 of 487 in Utah places tax preparers in the middle of the state's wage distribution. Because within-state and cross-state rankings measure different things, this figure and the national one above should be read together rather than as a single verdict.
- Retained pay in Utah is $52,798 after the full tax stack, from $66,720. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $55,576 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $67,520 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Tax Preparers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $38,430 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $66,720 |
| Top tenth earn over | $102,840 |
| This salary | $66,720 |
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 Utah | $52,798 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $55,768 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$1,813 |
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 | $62,997 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$2,220 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 95 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Utah earn less than $66,720. The published range is $38,430 up to $102,840, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Utah's $52,798, worked from $66,720. 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 170 of 487.
- Two cautions on $55,576, the adjusted value of that $66,720 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Utah. 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 170 of 487 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for tax preparers in Utah the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $38,430 to $102,840. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The Utah take-home of $52,798, on $66,720 for work ranking 170 of 487 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 170 of 487 in the state.
- This $55,576 adjusted figure, worked from $66,720, 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 170 of 487 in the state. The occupation ranks 170 of 487 locally.
Questions people ask
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
The label is broader than the work. From $38,430 at the bottom tenth to $102,840 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Utah is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $55,576 in national terms.
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 Utah adds its own income tax on top — which is why $52,798 of this wage survives to your account.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 48 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release one.
What drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($38,430) and the ninetieth ($102,840) 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?
Utah'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 $55,576 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 $52,798 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Utah 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.