What Maintenance and Repair Workers, General earn in Fayette County, PA
According to the latest federal wage data for the Pittsburgh, PA metropolitan area, the median pay for Maintenance and Repair Workers, General in Fayette County, PA is $49,250 a year, or $23.68 an hour. After federal income tax, Social Security, Medicare and state income tax, the paycheck shrinks to $40,189 a year, and rent, food and energy take another bite. The sections below walk through each step with the actual math for Fayette County, PA.
The mean wage is $52,000, which is 5.6% above the median, a sign that a group of high earners lifts the average. The survey counts about 10,330 people working in this occupation across the Pittsburgh, PA metropolitan area, so the estimate rests on a substantial pool of workers. Fayette County, PA has roughly 125,997 residents, according to the population figures used by the rent data.
The salary range, from entry level to top earners
Pay for Maintenance and Repair Workers, General in the Pittsburgh, PA metropolitan area is not one number. The lowest-paid tenth of workers earn up to $34,270 a year ($16.48 an hour), while the highest-paid tenth earn $74,960 or more ($36.04 an hour). That is a gap of $40,690 between the bottom and the top of the scale. The middle half of workers falls between $40,510 at the 25th percentile and $60,690 at the 75th percentile. A top-tier earner makes 2.2 times what someone at the bottom makes, so experience, certification and employer all matter.
What the hourly rate looks like
Employers quote this occupation by the hour or by the year, so here are both: $23.68 an hour or $49,250 a year at the median for Fayette County, PA. Before any deductions, that is $4,104 a month, $1,894 every two weeks and $947 each week. After taxes the same job pays $19.32 per hour of take-home income, which is the number that actually has to cover rent and groceries.
About this occupation: Maintenance and Repair Workers, General
The U.S. Department of Labor's O*NET database describes the work of Maintenance and Repair Workers, General this way: "Perform work involving the skills of two or more maintenance or craft occupations to keep machines, mechanical equipment, or the structure of a building in repair. Duties may involve pipe fitting; HVAC maintenance; insulating; welding; machining; carpentry; repairing electrical or mechanical equipment; installing, aligning, and balancing new equipment; and repairing buildings, floors, or stairs."
Core tasks recorded by O*NET include: "Assemble, install, or repair wiring, electrical or electronic components, pipe systems, plumbing, machinery, or equipment"; "Diagnose mechanical problems and determine how to correct them, checking blueprints, repair manuals, or parts catalogs, as necessary"; "Inspect, operate, or test machinery or equipment to diagnose machine malfunctions"; "Record type and cost of maintenance or repair work".
Job outlook for Maintenance and Repair Workers, General
The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects national employment in this occupation to grow from 1,621,800 jobs in 2025 to 1,690,500 in 2035, a change of +4.2%, faster than the 3.5% projected for all occupations. The projection counts 148,700 openings a year on average, including positions created by growth and positions left by workers who retire or move to another occupation; that equals 9.2% of current employment each year.
Typical entry-level education: high school diploma or equivalent. Typical on-the-job training to reach competency: moderate-term on-the-job training. BLS lists a national median annual wage of $49,590 for this occupation; the Fayette County, PA median of $49,250 is 0.7% below it.
How pay in Fayette County, PA compares
Compared with the Pennsylvania average
Pay in Fayette County, PA runs $597 below the Pennsylvania average of $49,847, a gap of 1.2%. A worker who moved to a better-paying part of Pennsylvania would, on paper, gain that difference before taxes. Within Pennsylvania, the highest median we track for this job is $50,200 in Philadelphia County, PA.
Compared with the national average
The national employment-weighted average for Maintenance and Repair Workers, General is $51,159 across the contiguous United States. At $49,250, Fayette County, PA pays $1,909 less, which is 3.7% below that benchmark. Keep in mind that a higher salary only helps if living costs do not rise faster, which is why the cost sections below matter as much as the headline number.
Where this job ranks in Fayette County, PA
Among the 561 occupations with published wages in Fayette County, PA, Maintenance and Repair Workers, General ranks number 355 by median pay, ahead of about 37% of them. The best-paying occupation we track here is Software Developers at $124,500 a year, which is $75,250 more than the median for Maintenance and Repair Workers, General.
From gross pay to take-home pay
Three separate tax bills sit between the gross salary and the bank account: federal income tax, FICA, and state income tax. For Maintenance and Repair Workers, General earning the Fayette County, PA median of $49,250, they add up to $9,061. The result is $40,189 of take-home pay a year ($3,349 a month), based on a single filer using the standard deduction.
Put another way, of every $100 earned, about $18 goes to taxes and $82 reaches the paycheck. The overall effective tax rate is 18.4%.
Federal income tax
After the $15,750 standard deduction, taxable income is $33,500. Federal brackets are marginal, so only the slice of income above each threshold is taxed at the higher rate; the last dollars of this salary fall in the 12% bracket. The resulting federal income tax is $3,782, an effective 7.7% of gross pay, well below the 12% marginal rate because the lower brackets are cheaper.
Social Security and Medicare (FICA)
Payroll taxes are a flat percentage of wages. Social Security takes 6.2% up to a wage base of $176,100, which costs $3,054 on this salary. Medicare takes 1.45%, or $714. FICA totals $3,768, which is 7.6% of gross pay.
State income tax in Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania income tax on this salary is $1,512 a year, or 3.1% of gross pay, after the state's own deductions and exemptions are applied. That is 40% of the federal income tax bill, and it comes out to $126 a month. Local taxes such as county or city income taxes are not included, so a few jurisdictions may withhold slightly more.
A cross-check with IRS data for Fayette County, PA
IRS Statistics of Income data for Fayette County, PA show an average adjusted gross income of $64,173 per return and an average effective federal income tax rate of 10.3% across all filers. Filers in the $25,000 to under $50,000 bracket, where this salary falls, paid an average of 4.8%, compared with the 7.7% estimated here for a single filer taking the standard deduction. Gaps between the two reflect filing status, dependents, credits and other income, none of which a single-person wage estimate includes.
Cost of living in Fayette County, PA
Take-home pay only means something next to what life costs. We price four basics for one adult in Fayette County, PA: a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline. All of them are converted to annual figures first, then compared with the $40,189 of take-home pay.
Rent
Housing is the largest line in most budgets. For Fayette County, PA, HUD sets the Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom unit at $1,146 a month ($13,752 a year), and at $1,389 for two bedrooms. For Maintenance and Repair Workers, General, a one-bedroom absorbs 34.2% of take-home pay and 27.9% of gross pay.
Food
The USDA Thrifty Food Plan (August 2026) puts the cost of a nutritious home-cooked diet for an adult at about $3,436 a year, which is $286 a month or $66.07 a week. That equals 7.0% of gross pay for Maintenance and Repair Workers, General in Fayette County, PA. It is a thrifty budget with no restaurant meals, so treat it as a floor.
Energy and gasoline
Using Pennsylvania residential prices from the Energy Information Administration and national household averages for consumption, electricity costs about $1,877 a year and other home energy such as natural gas about $535, for $2,412 in total. Gasoline in Pennsylvania averages $3.40 per gallon; at about 463 gallons a year (11,106 miles at 24 miles per gallon) fuel adds $1,573.
What is left over
Rent, food, energy and gasoline cost $21,173 a year in Fayette County, PA. Subtract that from $40,189 of take-home pay and $19,016 remains, which is $1,585 a month of breathing room. That margin equals 38.6% of gross pay, a comfortable cushion by common budgeting rules.
Local housing and commute data for Fayette County, PA
The budget above covers rent, food, energy and gasoline. Three more local facts shape what a paycheck buys in Fayette County, PA: property taxes, housing prices and the daily commute. The figures below are exact U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 2020-2024 5-year estimates for Fayette County, PA, set beside the Pennsylvania and national medians.
Property taxes in Fayette County, PA
Homeowners in Fayette County, PA pay a median of $1,607 a year in real estate taxes, 51% below the Pennsylvania median of $3,311 and 48% below the U.S. median of $3,119. Against a median home value of $143,200, the median tax bill is 1.12% of that value (the ratio of the two county medians). For a worker paid the local Maintenance and Repair Workers, General median of $49,250, a tax bill of that size would equal 3.3% of gross pay, which matters for anyone planning to buy rather than rent.
Rents, home prices and household income in Fayette County, PA
Renters in Fayette County, PA pay a median gross rent of $793 a month in the Census survey, 34% below the Pennsylvania median of $1,209. HUD's Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom apartment, which this site uses in the budget, is $1,146 a month; the two measures differ because the Census figure covers units of every size that renters already occupy, while the HUD figure is a one-bedroom benchmark. The median value of an owner-occupied home is $143,200, 44% below the Pennsylvania median of $254,500. Median household income is $58,236, 25% below the Pennsylvania median of $77,971, so a year of one-bedroom Fair Market Rent equals 23.6% of that income.
Commuting in Fayette County, PA
Workers in Fayette County, PA who travel to a workplace spend an average of 26.0 minutes each way, 1% below the Pennsylvania average of 26.3. For someone who commutes five days a week, that is 4.3 hours of round-trip travel every week, a cost the budget does not price. 7.1% of workers in Fayette County, PA work from home, compared with 15.1% nationally, which removes the commute for them.
Can Maintenance and Repair Workers, General afford to live in Fayette County, PA?
The 30% rent guideline
A common rule of thumb says rent should stay under 30% of gross income. For a gross salary of $49,250 that ceiling is $1,231 a month. The one-bedroom Fair Market Rent of $1,146 is $85 under it, so rent fits the guideline. Put as a wage, covering a one-bedroom at the 30% guideline takes $22.04 an hour; the median for Maintenance and Repair Workers, General is $23.68, which is 7% above that mark. Another way to see it: at $19.32 of take-home pay an hour, a one-bedroom takes about 13.7 working hours every week.
Splitting a two-bedroom
Sharing a two-bedroom at $1,389 a month means $695 each. Compared with renting a one-bedroom alone, that saves $5,418 a year. With a roommate, the yearly margin after the basics becomes $24,434.
How fast you can save
At $1,585 a month of margin, building a $10,000 emergency fund would take about 7 months. Setting aside half of the margin stretches the same goal to about 14 months. These figures ignore interest, raises and any spending beyond the four basics.
Frequently asked questions about Maintenance and Repair Workers, General pay in Fayette County, PA
How much do Maintenance and Repair Workers, General make per hour in Fayette County, PA?
The median is $23.68 per hour, based on $49,250 a year over 2,080 hours. Hourly pay runs from about $16.48 at the 10th percentile to $36.04 at the 90th percentile.
How much do Maintenance and Repair Workers, General take home after taxes in Fayette County, PA?
After federal income tax, FICA and state income tax, the median salary of $49,250 becomes $40,189 a year. That is $3,349 a month, $1,546 every two weeks or $773 a week.
How much tax do Maintenance and Repair Workers, General pay in Fayette County, PA?
Total taxes are $9,061 a year, an effective rate of 18.4%: $3,782 federal income tax, $3,768 FICA and $1,512 Pennsylvania income tax.
Do Maintenance and Repair Workers, General earn more in Fayette County, PA than elsewhere in Pennsylvania?
No. The local median of $49,250 is -1.2% versus the Pennsylvania average of $49,847, a difference of $597 a year.
Can Maintenance and Repair Workers, General afford a one-bedroom apartment in Fayette County, PA?
A one-bedroom costs $1,146 a month against take-home pay of $3,349, which is 34.2% of take-home pay. That meets the 30%-of-gross guideline, which allows up to $1,231 a month.
What is the monthly budget margin for Maintenance and Repair Workers, General in Fayette County, PA?
About $1,585 a month ($19,016 a year) remains after a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline, which together cost $21,173 a year.
What hourly wage covers a one-bedroom in Fayette County, PA at the 30% guideline?
$22.04 an hour for a full-time schedule, calculated as the $13,752 annual rent divided by 0.30 and by 2,080 hours. The median for Maintenance and Repair Workers, General is $23.68.
How we calculated these numbers
Wages are May 2025 medians from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey for the Pittsburgh, PA metropolitan area; hourly-only values are annualized at 2,080 hours. Rents are HUD Fair Market Rents, food costs come from the USDA Thrifty Food Plan, and energy prices come from the Energy Information Administration. County-level tax statistics come from the IRS Statistics of Income.
Taxes use tax-year 2025 federal brackets, FICA rates and the Pennsylvania rules for a single filer with wage income only. Figures are estimates for planning and comparison, not tax or financial advice, and they exclude local income taxes, benefits, retirement contributions and individual circumstances.