Water and Wastewater Treatment Plant and System Operators in Pennsylvania
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$51,106
after federal, FICA and Pennsylvania tax
Tax takes
$12,204
19.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$52,416
Pennsylvania costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Pennsylvania — 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
$63,310
Kept after tax
$51,106
Worth in national money
$52,416
State rank
16
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is strong here. Pennsylvania's middle earner gets $63,310, putting the state 16 of 50 — about 5.48% ahead of the national figure.
- Against other work in Pennsylvania, this sits in the middle: 207 of 492 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $63,310, tax leaves $51,106, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $52,416 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $64,020, since top earners drag the number up.
- For water and wastewater treatment plant and system operators, Pennsylvania sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $63,310, ranking 16 of 50 and running about 5.48% above the national midpoint. Nominal advantage of this size is usually, though not always, large enough to survive the state's own tax and price levels.
- Water and wastewater treatment plant and system operators ranks 207 of 492 occupations in Pennsylvania by median pay, in the middle bands. Within-state and national positions are separate measurements and a job commonly sits in different quartiles on each.
- Because Pennsylvania sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for water and wastewater treatment plant and system operators — median $63,310 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $51,106 retained, $52,416 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $64,020 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Water and Wastewater Treatment Plant and System Operators
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $45,670 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $63,310 |
| Top tenth earn over | $80,480 |
| This salary | $63,310 |
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 Pennsylvania | $51,106 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $53,050 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$2,175 |
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 | $60,891 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$2,631 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 98 |
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 Pennsylvania earn under $63,310 and half over. The published range runs $45,670 at the tenth percentile to $80,480 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Pennsylvania's $51,106, worked from $63,310. 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 207 of 492.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $52,416 uses one figure for the whole of Pennsylvania. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 492 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 207.
- Figures are distribution medians for water and wastewater treatment plant and system operators in Pennsylvania, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $45,670 to $80,480; 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.
- The Pennsylvania take-home of $51,106, on $63,310 for work ranking 207 of 492 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 207 of 492 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $52,416, worked from $63,310, 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 Pennsylvania address, on work sitting at 207 of 492 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $45,670 at the bottom tenth to $80,480 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in Pennsylvania sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $52,416 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Three of them are federal and one is not. After income tax, Social Security, Medicare and Pennsylvania's own levy, $51,106 remains.
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.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($45,670 to $80,480) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Pennsylvania rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Pennsylvania'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 $52,416 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 $51,106 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Pennsylvania 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.