Tree Trimmers and Pruners in Maine
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$37,673
after federal, FICA and Maine tax
Tax takes
$8,757
18.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$38,799
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
$46,430
Kept after tax
$37,673
Worth in national money
$38,799
State rank
36
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Maine pays tree trimmers and pruners a middle wage of $46,430, 36 of 49 states and about 8.89% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Within Maine this is lower-paid work. Of 484 occupations the state publishes figures for, tree trimmers and pruners ranks 381. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $46,430 the take-home is $37,673, which is worth about $38,799 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is higher, $51,920, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Maine's $46,430 median for tree trimmers and pruners places it 36 of 49 states, about 8.89% 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 Maine reports, tree trimmers and pruners ranks 381 of 484, 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.
- Maine's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for tree trimmers and pruners on its $46,430 median: $37,673 retained after tax becomes $38,799 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $51,920 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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Pay band: Tree Trimmers and Pruners
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $40,070 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $46,430 |
| Top tenth earn over | $84,350 |
| This salary | $46,430 |
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 | $37,673 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $39,487 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$1,836 |
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 | $44,172 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$2,220 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 97 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $46,430 as a midpoint for Maine, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $40,070 and the ninetieth is $84,350 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $37,673 take-home in Maine comes from $46,430. It is the no-frills case: single filer, standard deduction, nothing set aside before tax. Real circumstances almost always reduce the tax. City and school-district taxes are not counted at all. Locally the work ranks 381 of 484.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $38,799 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 381.
- The Maine median of $46,430 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $40,070 to $84,350. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Retained pay of $37,673, from $46,430, assumes a single Maine filer with the standard deduction and no elective deferrals. Pre-tax retirement or HSA contributions, dependants and itemized deductions all reduce it further; local income taxes, excluded here, would increase it in the states that levy them. This occupation ranks 381 of 484 locally, and the state ranks 36 of 49 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $38,799, worked from $46,430, 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 381 of 484 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 $51,920, 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 $40,070 at the bottom tenth to $84,350 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Maine is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $38,799 in national terms.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Four deductions, stacked. The federal layer and the two payroll taxes apply wherever you work; Maine then takes its own share, leaving $37,673.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 49 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release one.
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 Maine is $51,920. 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 ($40,070) and the ninetieth ($84,350) 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?
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 $38,799 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 $37,673 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 49 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.