Tax Preparers in Wisconsin
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$36,475
after federal, FICA and Wisconsin tax
Tax takes
$7,865
17.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$39,179
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
$44,340
Kept after tax
$36,475
Worth in national money
$39,179
State rank
35
of 48 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Wisconsin pays tax preparers a middle wage of $44,340, 35 of 48 states and about 19.26% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Within Wisconsin this is lower-paid work. Of 491 occupations the state publishes figures for, tax preparers ranks 397. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Wisconsin is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $44,340 the take-home is $36,475; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $39,179 would nationally. The average comes to $49,300, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Wisconsin's $44,340 median for tax preparers places it 35 of 48 states, about 19.26% below national. Because both the tax and price adjustments tend to favor lower-nominal states, this ranking is the least stable of the three reported here.
- Against every occupation Wisconsin reports, tax preparers ranks 397 of 491, 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.
- Post-tax income for tax preparers in Wisconsin, on $44,340, is $36,475 — equivalent to $39,179 once regional price parity is applied. ⚠️ The adjustment uses a statewide index that describes no particular address; within-state price variation, concentrated in housing, routinely exceeds the difference between two states. At $49,300 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
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Pay band: Tax Preparers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $34,920 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $44,340 |
| Top tenth earn over | $73,130 |
| This salary | $44,340 |
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 | $36,475 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $37,807 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$273 |
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 | $42,682 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$330 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 93 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $44,340 as a midpoint for Wisconsin, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $34,920 and the ninetieth is $73,130 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In Wisconsin the take-home figure of $36,475, from $44,340, 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 397 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 $39,179, the adjusted value of that $44,340 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 397 of 491 in the state.
- The Wisconsin median of $44,340 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $34,920 to $73,130. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Take-home for Wisconsin is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $36,475 from $44,340. 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 397 of 491 locally.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Wisconsin, so $39,179 — the adjusted value of that $44,340 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 397 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
No — it is the middle. Half of these workers earn more and half earn less. The average is $49,300, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $34,920 and the top tenth $73,130 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in Wisconsin sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $39,179 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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 Wisconsin adds its own income tax on top — which is why $36,475 of this wage survives to your account.
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 Wisconsin is $49,300. 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 ($34,920) and the ninetieth ($73,130) 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?
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 $39,179 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 $36,475 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 48 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.