What Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand earn in Lehigh County, PA
According to the latest federal wage data for the Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, PA-NJ metropolitan area, the median pay for Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand in Lehigh County, PA is $42,380 a year, or $20.38 an hour. After federal income tax, Social Security, Medicare and state income tax, the paycheck shrinks to $34,880 a year, and rent, food and energy take another bite. The sections below walk through each step with the actual math for Lehigh County, PA.
The mean wage is $43,780, which is 3.3% above the median, a sign that a group of high earners lifts the average. The survey counts about 14,840 people working in this occupation across the Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, PA-NJ metropolitan area, so the estimate rests on a substantial pool of workers. Lehigh County, PA has roughly 378,792 residents, according to the population figures used by the rent data.
The salary range, from entry level to top earners
Pay for Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand in the Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, PA-NJ metropolitan area is not one number. The lowest-paid tenth of workers earn up to $34,230 a year ($16.46 an hour), while the highest-paid tenth earn $56,930 or more ($27.37 an hour). That is a gap of $22,700 between the bottom and the top of the scale. The middle half of workers falls between $37,340 at the 25th percentile and $48,810 at the 75th percentile. A top-tier earner makes 1.7 times what someone at the bottom makes, so experience, certification and employer all matter.
What the hourly rate looks like
Converted to an hourly wage, the median for Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand in Lehigh County, PA is $20.38. A full-time schedule of 40 hours for 52 weeks adds up to $42,380, and the same salary is $3,532 a month before taxes or about $1,630 per biweekly pay period. After taxes the same job pays $16.77 per hour of take-home income, which is the number that actually has to cover rent and groceries.
How pay in Lehigh County, PA compares
Compared with the Pennsylvania average
Pay for Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand in Lehigh County, PA is in line with the statewide figure: $42,380 locally against an employment-weighted Pennsylvania average of $42,511, a difference of only $131 (0.3%). Within Pennsylvania, the highest median we track for this job is $43,460 in Philadelphia County, PA.
Compared with the national average
The national employment-weighted average for Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand is $41,056 across the contiguous United States. At $42,380, Lehigh County, PA pays $1,324 more, which is 3.2% above 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 Lehigh County, PA
Among the 464 occupations with published wages in Lehigh County, PA, Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand ranks number 383 by median pay, ahead of about 17% of them. The best-paying occupation we track here is Registered Nurses at $101,440 a year, which is $59,060 more than the median for Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand.
From gross pay to take-home pay
A salary of $42,380 does not arrive in full. We model a single filer with wage income only, the standard deduction and tax-year 2025 rules, and we keep the three tax layers apart: federal income tax, FICA (Social Security and Medicare) and state income tax. Together they take $7,500 a year, which leaves $34,880, or $2,907 a month.
Put another way, of every $100 earned, about $18 goes to taxes and $82 reaches the paycheck. The overall effective tax rate is 17.7%.
Federal income tax
After the $15,750 standard deduction, taxable income is $26,630. 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 $2,957, an effective 7.0% 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 $2,628 on this salary. Medicare takes 1.45%, or $615. FICA totals $3,242, which is 7.6% of gross pay.
State income tax in Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania income tax on this salary is $1,301 a year, or 3.1% of gross pay, after the state's own deductions and exemptions are applied. That is 44% of the federal income tax bill, and it comes out to $108 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 Lehigh County, PA
IRS Statistics of Income data for Lehigh County, PA show an average adjusted gross income of $81,980 per return and an average effective federal income tax rate of 12.9% across all filers. Filers in the $25,000 to under $50,000 bracket, where this salary falls, paid an average of 4.7%, compared with the 7.0% 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 Lehigh County, PA
Take-home pay only means something next to what life costs. We price four basics for one adult in Lehigh County, PA: a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline. All of them are converted to annual figures first, then compared with the $34,880 of take-home pay.
Rent
The HUD Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Lehigh County, PA is $1,519 a month, or $18,228 a year. A two-bedroom costs $1,839 a month. For Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand, a one-bedroom absorbs 52.3% of take-home pay and 43.0% 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 8.1% of gross pay for Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand in Lehigh 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
Add the four basics together and living costs come to $25,649 a year, 74% of take-home pay. That leaves $9,231 a year, or $769 a month, for savings, transportation beyond fuel, health care, debt and everything else. That margin equals 21.8% of gross pay, a comfortable cushion by common budgeting rules.
Can Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand afford to live in Lehigh 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 $42,380 that ceiling is $1,060 a month. The one-bedroom Fair Market Rent of $1,519 is $460 over it, so rent breaks the guideline. Put as a wage, covering a one-bedroom at the 30% guideline takes $29.21 an hour; the median for Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand is $20.38, which is 30% below that mark. Another way to see it: at $16.77 of take-home pay an hour, a one-bedroom takes about 20.9 working hours every week.
Splitting a two-bedroom
Sharing a two-bedroom at $1,839 a month means $920 each. Compared with renting a one-bedroom alone, that saves $7,194 a year. With a roommate, the yearly margin after the basics becomes $16,425.
How fast you can save
At $769 a month of margin, building a $10,000 emergency fund would take about 13 months. Setting aside half of the margin stretches the same goal to about 26 months. These figures ignore interest, raises and any spending beyond the four basics.
Frequently asked questions about Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand pay in Lehigh County, PA
What is the hourly wage for Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand in Lehigh County, PA?
The median is $20.38 per hour, based on $42,380 a year over 2,080 hours. Hourly pay runs from about $16.46 at the 10th percentile to $27.37 at the 90th percentile.
What is the take-home pay for Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand in Lehigh County, PA?
After federal income tax, FICA and state income tax, the median salary of $42,380 becomes $34,880 a year. That is $2,907 a month, $1,342 every two weeks or $671 a week.
What percentage of pay goes to taxes for Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand in Lehigh County, PA?
Total taxes are $7,500 a year, an effective rate of 17.7%: $2,957 federal income tax, $3,242 FICA and $1,301 Pennsylvania income tax.
Is pay for Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand in Lehigh County, PA above the Pennsylvania average?
It is about the same. The local median of $42,380 is within 0.3% of the Pennsylvania average of $42,511.
Is a one-bedroom rent affordable on the median Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand salary in Lehigh County, PA?
A one-bedroom costs $1,519 a month against take-home pay of $2,907, which is 52.3% of take-home pay. That does not meet the 30%-of-gross guideline, which allows up to $1,060 a month.
How much is left after rent, food and energy for Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand in Lehigh County, PA?
About $769 a month ($9,231 a year) remains after a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline, which together cost $25,649 a year.
What hourly wage covers a one-bedroom in Lehigh County, PA at the 30% guideline?
$29.21 an hour for a full-time schedule, calculated as the $18,228 annual rent divided by 0.30 and by 2,080 hours. The median for Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand is $20.38.
How we calculated these numbers
Wages are May 2025 medians from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey for the Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, PA-NJ 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.