Water and Wastewater Treatment Plant and System Operators in Vermont
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$51,225
after federal, FICA and Vermont tax
Tax takes
$12,415
19.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$53,009
Vermont costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Vermont — 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
$63,640
Kept after tax
$51,225
Worth in national money
$53,009
State rank
14
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Vermont is one of the better-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $63,640, which ranks 14 of 50 states with published figures. That is about 6.03% above the national middle.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 453 occupations Vermont reports figures for, this is number 197.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $63,640 you keep $51,225 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $53,009 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $67,130, since top earners drag the number up.
- Vermont ranks 14 of 50 states publishing a median for water and wastewater treatment plant and system operators, at $63,640 — about 6.03% above the national median. A state's position on nominal pay is the figure wage tables report and the least informative of the three on this page, because it survives neither the tax adjustment nor the price adjustment intact for most occupations.
- In Vermont's occupational distribution, water and wastewater treatment plant and system operators sits at 197 of 453 — 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.
- Retained pay in Vermont is $51,225 after the full tax stack, from $63,640. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $53,009 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $67,130 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 | $50,820 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $63,640 |
| Top tenth earn over | $81,100 |
| This salary | $63,640 |
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 Vermont | $51,225 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $53,315 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$1,856 |
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 | $61,039 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$2,245 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 97 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $63,640 as a midpoint for Vermont, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $50,820 and the ninetieth is $81,100 — 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 Vermont's $51,225, worked from $63,640. 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 197 of 453.
- One number stands for prices across all of Vermont, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $53,009, the adjusted value of that $63,640 median, as a way to compare states fairly, not as a quote for any particular place. The two datasets are also from different years. This job sits at 197 of 453 in the state.
- The Vermont median of $63,640 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $50,820 to $81,100. 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 Vermont take-home of $51,225, on $63,640 for work ranking 197 of 453 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 197 of 453 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Vermont, so $53,009 — the adjusted value of that $63,640 median — establishes comparability between states rather than accuracy within one. The wage and parity series are dated independently, each following its own publication cycle, and neither is projected forward. This occupation sits at 197 of 453 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 $67,130, 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?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $50,820 at the tenth percentile, $81,100 at the ninetieth.
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 $53,009.
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 Vermont's own levy, $51,225 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 50 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 Vermont is $67,130. 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 ($50,820 to $81,100) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Vermont rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Vermont'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 $53,009 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 $51,225 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Vermont 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.