Tour and Travel Guides in Oregon
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$30,840
after federal, FICA and Oregon tax
Tax takes
$8,420
21.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$29,450
Oregon costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Oregon — 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
$39,260
Kept after tax
$30,840
Worth in national money
$29,450
State rank
19
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Oregon sits in the middle of the pack for tour and travel guides. The median is $39,260, ranking 19 of 50 states with figures. Close enough to the national middle that where you live matters more than the headline suggests.
- Measured against other jobs in Oregon, this one sits low: 458 of 489 occupations with published pay, in the bottom quarter.
- The wage here flatters the reality. From $39,260 the take-home is $30,840. But Oregon costs more than the national average, so that money behaves more like $29,450 would elsewhere. Worth knowing before comparing offers across states. The average is higher, $43,170, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Oregon occupies the middle band for tour and travel guides: a median of $39,260, ranking 19 of 50. Where nominal pay is close to the national figure, the tax and price adjustments below carry proportionally more weight in determining the real outcome.
- Tour and travel guides occupies position 458 of 489 in Oregon's occupational wage distribution, in the bottom quartile. National ranking and local ranking answer different questions and frequently disagree; this is the one a resident experiences.
- Retained pay after federal, FICA and Oregon income tax is $30,840 for tour and travel guides, from $39,260. The state's price level exceeds the national average, so the price-adjusted equivalent is $29,450. ⚠️ This is purchasing power and not a wage; cross-state offer comparisons that stop at the nominal figure systematically overvalue high-cost states. The mean of $43,170 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Tour and Travel Guides
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $30,920 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $39,260 |
| Top tenth earn over | $64,620 |
| This salary | $39,260 |
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 Oregon | $30,840 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $33,725 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$5,256 |
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 | $35,669 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$6,356 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 105 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $39,260 as a midpoint for Oregon, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $30,920 and the ninetieth is $64,620 — 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 Oregon's $30,840, worked from $39,260. 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 458 of 489.
- Two cautions on $29,450, the adjusted value of that $39,260 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Oregon. 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 458 of 489 locally.
- The Oregon median of $39,260 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $30,920 to $64,620. 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 Oregon take-home of $30,840, on $39,260 for work ranking 458 of 489 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 458 of 489 in the state.
- This $29,450 adjusted figure, worked from $39,260, 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 458 of 489 in the state. The occupation ranks 458 of 489 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $43,170, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $30,920 and the top tenth $64,620 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
The number and the value are different things. Oregon costs more than the national average, so this take-home stretches like $29,450 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 Oregon adds its own income tax on top — which is why $30,840 of this wage survives to your account.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 50 states here, and a missing state means too few reports, not no jobs.
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 Oregon is $43,170. 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 ($30,920) and the ninetieth ($64,620) 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?
Oregon's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $29,450 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 $30,840 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Oregon 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 50 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.