Title Examiners, Abstractors, and Searchers in Maine
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$39,490
after federal, FICA and Maine tax
Tax takes
$9,410
19.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$40,671
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
$48,900
Kept after tax
$39,490
Worth in national money
$40,671
State rank
36
of 47 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Maine is among the lower-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $48,900, ranking 36 of 47 states — about 16.62% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
- Against other work in Maine, this sits in the middle: 324 of 484 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $48,900 the take-home is $39,490, which is worth about $40,671 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is lower, $48,300, so pay clusters nearer the top than usual.
- Maine ranks 36 of 47 for title examiners, abstractors, and searchers, with a median of $48,900 — about 16.62% below the national figure. A nominal shortfall is not by itself a real one: lower-paying states frequently carry lower tax and lower price levels, and the adjusted figures below are where that is settled rather than assumed.
- Title examiners, abstractors, and searchers ranks 324 of 484 occupations in Maine by median pay, in the middle bands. Within-state and national positions are separate measurements and a job commonly sits in different quartiles on each.
- Maine's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for title examiners, abstractors, and searchers on its $48,900 median: $39,490 retained after tax becomes $40,671 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $48,300 falls below the median, a left skew that is uncommon in wage data.
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Pay band: Title Examiners, Abstractors, and Searchers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $32,620 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $48,900 |
| Top tenth earn over | $62,400 |
| This salary | $48,900 |
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 | $39,490 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $41,471 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$2,006 |
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 | $46,435 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$2,426 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 97 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $48,900 as a midpoint for Maine, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $32,620 and the ninetieth is $62,400 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Maine's $39,490, worked from $48,900. 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 324 of 484.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $40,671 uses one figure for the whole of Maine. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 484 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 324.
- The Maine median of $48,900 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $32,620 to $62,400. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- The Maine take-home of $39,490, on $48,900 for work ranking 324 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 324 of 484 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $40,671, worked from $48,900, deflates by a statewide parity that conceals substantial intra-state variation, concentrated in housing — so it supports comparison between states rather than the pricing of a move to a particular Maine address, on work sitting at 324 of 484 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $32,620 at the tenth percentile, $62,400 at the ninetieth.
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 $40,671.
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 Maine adds its own income tax on top — which is why $39,490 of this wage survives to your account.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 47 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release one.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($32,620 to $62,400) 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 $40,671 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 $39,490 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 47 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.