Tour and Travel Guides in Wisconsin
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$25,780
after federal, FICA and Wisconsin tax
Tax takes
$4,380
14.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$27,691
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
$30,160
Kept after tax
$25,780
Worth in national money
$27,691
State rank
47
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for tour and travel guides is on the low side in Wisconsin. The middle earner gets $30,160. That is 47 of 50 states, and about 20.88% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Measured against other jobs in Wisconsin, this one sits low: 480 of 491 occupations with published pay, in the bottom quarter.
- Here is where Wisconsin does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $30,160 you keep $25,780, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $27,691 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $36,440, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For tour and travel guides, Wisconsin sits in the lower band at $30,160, ranking 47 of 50 and trailing the national median by about 20.88%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Tour and travel guides occupies position 480 of 491 in Wisconsin'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.
- After federal, FICA and Wisconsin income tax, retained pay for tour and travel guides on $30,160 is $25,780. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $27,691 in national-average terms. ⚠️ That figure is purchasing power, not a wage, and nobody is paid it; it is what the take-home buys. The mean of $36,440 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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Pay band: Tour and Travel Guides
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $26,250 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $30,160 |
| Top tenth earn over | $54,530 |
| This salary | $30,160 |
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 | $25,780 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $26,414 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$510 |
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 | $29,371 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$617 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 93 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $30,160 as a midpoint for Wisconsin, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $26,250 and the ninetieth is $54,530 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In Wisconsin the take-home figure of $25,780, from $30,160, 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 480 of 491 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $27,691, the adjusted value of that $30,160 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Wisconsin. 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 480 of 491 locally.
- The Wisconsin median of $30,160 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $26,250 to $54,530. 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 $25,780 from $30,160. 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 480 of 491 locally.
- This $27,691 adjusted figure, worked from $30,160, 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 480 of 491 in the state. The occupation ranks 480 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
Half earn more than this and half earn less. The average sits at $36,440 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
The label is broader than the work. From $26,250 at the bottom tenth to $54,530 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
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 $27,691.
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 $25,780 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 50 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 $36,440. 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 ($26,250) and the ninetieth ($54,530) 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 $27,691 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 $25,780 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 50 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.