Urban and Regional Planners in Maine
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$60,470
after federal, FICA and Maine tax
Tax takes
$18,650
23.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$62,278
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
$79,120
Kept after tax
$60,470
Worth in national money
$62,278
State rank
32
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. Maine is 32 of 51 states for urban and regional planners, with a middle wage of $79,120. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 484 occupations Maine reports figures for, this is number 125.
- No great distortion either way. Maine costs about what the country costs, so from $79,120, take-home of $60,470 is worth roughly $62,278 in national money. The average comes to $83,690, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Maine ranks 32 of 51 for urban and regional planners at $79,120. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- In Maine's occupational distribution, urban and regional planners sits at 125 of 484 — neither quartile. This local position is what a resident compares against, and it is determined by the state's own labor market rather than by national patterns for this occupation.
- Price parity in Maine is near the national base, so for urban and regional planners, whose median is $79,120, the adjusted figure of $62,278 differs little from $60,470 retained after tax. The state's position for this occupation is therefore set by wage and tax rather than by living costs. At $83,690 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
Choose your filing status and local taxes, compare pay, and keep a shortlist.Compare wage and personal-pay outcomes by state, with selected resident local taxes and saved career choices.
Pay band: Urban and Regional Planners
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $56,480 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $79,120 |
| Top tenth earn over | $112,810 |
| This salary | $79,120 |
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 | $60,470 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $64,491 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$4,087 |
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 | $73,405 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$5,646 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 97 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $79,120 as a midpoint for Maine, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $56,480 and the ninetieth is $112,810 — 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 $60,470, worked from $79,120. 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 125 of 484.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $62,278 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 125.
- The Maine median of $79,120 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $56,480 to $112,810. 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 $60,470, on $79,120 for work ranking 125 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 125 of 484 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $62,278, worked from $79,120, 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 125 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 $83,690, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $56,480 and the top tenth $112,810, so most people doing this work in Maine sit within a fairly tight band.
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 $62,278.
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 $60,470 of this wage survives to your account.
Can I compare this job across every state?
This occupation is published everywhere — all 51 of them — so comparing states measures real differences rather than gaps in the data.
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 $83,690. 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 is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($56,480 to $112,810) 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 $62,278 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 $60,470 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.
Is this occupation's state coverage complete?
State-level estimates are published for all 51 jurisdictions for this occupation, so cross-state comparison is not confounded by suppression. ⚠️ Estimates remain survey-based and carry sampling error; small differences between adjacent states should not be over-read.