Technical Writers in Arizona
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$63,363
after federal, FICA and Arizona tax
Tax takes
$16,417
20.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$62,671
Arizona costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Arizona — 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
$79,780
Kept after tax
$63,363
Worth in national money
$62,671
State rank
32
of 45 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for technical writers is on the low side in Arizona. The middle earner gets $79,780. That is 32 of 45 states, and about 11.74% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Locally, this pays well. Among 491 occupations Arizona reports, technical writers comes in at 110 — comfortably in the upper quarter.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $79,780, tax leaves $63,363, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $62,671 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $86,510, since top earners drag the number up.
- For technical writers, Arizona sits in the lower band at $79,780, ranking 32 of 45 and trailing the national median by about 11.74%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Technical writers ranks 110 of 491 occupations by median in Arizona, in the top quartile. Within-state position is largely independent of national position, so this holds regardless of how the state compares to others for the same work.
- Because Arizona sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for technical writers — median $79,780 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $63,363 retained, $62,671 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $86,510 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Technical Writers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $60,100 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $79,780 |
| Top tenth earn over | $119,930 |
| This salary | $79,780 |
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 Arizona | $63,363 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $64,955 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$4,173 |
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 | $77,517 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$5,764 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 101 |
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 technical writers in Arizona earn under $79,780 and half over. The published range runs $60,100 at the tenth percentile to $119,930 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In Arizona the take-home figure of $63,363, from $79,780, 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 110 of 491 occupations here.
- One number stands for prices across all of Arizona, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $62,671, the adjusted value of that $79,780 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 110 of 491 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for technical writers in Arizona, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $60,100 to $119,930; 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 Arizona is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $63,363 from $79,780. 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 110 of 491 locally.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Arizona, so $62,671 — the adjusted value of that $79,780 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 110 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 $86,510, 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?
The label is broader than the work. From $60,100 at the bottom tenth to $119,930 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
The number and the value are different things. Arizona costs more than the national average, so this take-home stretches like $62,671 rather than its face figure.
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 Arizona adds its own income tax on top — which is why $63,363 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 45 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 Arizona is $86,510. 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 ($60,100) and the ninetieth ($119,930) 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.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
Arizona's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $62,671 in national-average terms. ⚠️ RPPs are an all-items index; housing parities vary far more widely than the headline figure.
What accounts for the gap between gross wage and take-home here?
Take-home of $63,363 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Arizona 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 45 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.