Weighers, Measurers, Checkers, and Samplers, Recordkeeping in Pennsylvania
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$40,418
after federal, FICA and Pennsylvania tax
Tax takes
$9,062
18.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$41,455
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
$49,480
Kept after tax
$40,418
Worth in national money
$41,455
State rank
8
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pennsylvania is one of the better-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $49,480, which ranks 8 of 49 states with published figures. That is about 6.68% above the national middle.
- Against other work in Pennsylvania, this sits in the middle: 316 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 $49,480, tax leaves $40,418, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $41,455 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $51,470, since top earners drag the number up.
- Pennsylvania ranks 8 of 49 states publishing a median for weighers, measurers, checkers, and samplers, recordkeeping, at $49,480 — about 6.68% 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.
- Weighers, measurers, checkers, and samplers, recordkeeping ranks 316 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 weighers, measurers, checkers, and samplers, recordkeeping — median $49,480 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $40,418 retained, $41,455 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $51,470 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Weighers, Measurers, Checkers, and Samplers, Recordkeeping
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $37,300 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $49,480 |
| Top tenth earn over | $62,930 |
| This salary | $49,480 |
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 | $40,418 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $41,937 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$1,702 |
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 | $47,589 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$2,058 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 98 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $49,480 as a midpoint for Pennsylvania, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $37,300 and the ninetieth is $62,930 — 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 Pennsylvania's $40,418, worked from $49,480. 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 316 of 492.
- One number stands for prices across all of Pennsylvania, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $41,455, the adjusted value of that $49,480 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 316 of 492 in the state.
- The Pennsylvania median of $49,480 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $37,300 to $62,930. 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 Pennsylvania take-home of $40,418, on $49,480 for work ranking 316 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 316 of 492 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Pennsylvania, so $41,455 — the adjusted value of that $49,480 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 316 of 492 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $51,470, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $37,300 and the top tenth $62,930, so most people doing this work in Pennsylvania sit within a fairly tight band.
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 $41,455 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, $40,418 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 49 states here, and a missing state means too few reports, not no jobs.
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 Pennsylvania is $51,470. 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 ($37,300 to $62,930) 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 $41,455 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 $40,418 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 49 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.