Water and Wastewater Treatment Plant and System Operators in Maine
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$49,036
after federal, FICA and Maine tax
Tax takes
$12,834
20.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$50,502
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
$61,870
Kept after tax
$49,036
Worth in national money
$50,502
State rank
20
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Maine sits in the middle of the pack for this job. The median is $61,870, ranking 20 of 50 states with figures. Close enough to the national middle that where you live matters more than the headline suggests.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 484 occupations Maine reports figures for, this is number 219.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $61,870 the take-home is $49,036, which is worth about $50,502 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is higher, $65,010, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Maine occupies the middle band for water and wastewater treatment plant and system operators: a median of $61,870, ranking 20 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.
- In Maine's occupational distribution, water and wastewater treatment plant and system operators sits at 219 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.
- Maine's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for water and wastewater treatment plant and system operators on its $61,870 median: $49,036 retained after tax becomes $50,502 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $65,010 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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Pay band: Water and Wastewater Treatment Plant and System Operators
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $49,220 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $61,870 |
| Top tenth earn over | $84,730 |
| This salary | $61,870 |
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 | $49,036 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $51,893 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$2,899 |
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 | $58,315 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$3,506 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 97 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- A median is the middle, not an offer. Half of water and wastewater treatment plant and system operators in Maine earn under $61,870 and half over. The published range runs $49,220 at the tenth percentile to $84,730 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $49,036 take-home in Maine comes from $61,870. 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 219 of 484.
- Two cautions on $50,502, the adjusted value of that $61,870 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Maine. 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 219 of 484 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for water and wastewater treatment plant and system operators in Maine, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $49,220 to $84,730; within-state dispersion of that width routinely exceeds the dispersion between states, so tenure, employer and metropolitan area predict an individual's pay better than geography does.
- Retained pay of $49,036, from $61,870, 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 219 of 484 locally, and the state ranks 20 of 50 for it.
- This $50,502 adjusted figure, worked from $61,870, 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 219 of 484 in the state. The occupation ranks 219 of 484 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 $65,010 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $49,220 and the top tenth $84,730, 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 $50,502.
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 $49,036.
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 Maine is $65,010. 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 ($49,220 to $84,730) 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 $50,502 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 $49,036 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 50 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.