What Miscellaneous Assemblers and Fabricators earn in Lehigh County, PA
The median pay for Miscellaneous Assemblers and Fabricators in Lehigh County, PA is $48,990 per year, which works out to $23.55 per hour. The figure comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics wage survey for the Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, PA-NJ metropolitan area, the labor market that Lehigh County, PA belongs to. Half of the workers in this occupation earn more than the median and half earn less, which makes it a sturdier yardstick than an average that a few very high earners can pull upward.
The mean wage is $48,750, which is 0.5% below the median, so pay is spread fairly evenly. The survey counts about 4,730 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 Miscellaneous Assemblers and Fabricators in the Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, PA-NJ metropolitan area is not one number. The lowest-paid tenth of workers earn up to $34,390 a year ($16.53 an hour), while the highest-paid tenth earn $67,010 or more ($32.22 an hour). That is a gap of $32,620 between the bottom and the top of the scale. The middle half of workers falls between $38,610 at the 25th percentile and $58,200 at the 75th percentile. A top-tier earner makes 1.9 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: $23.55 an hour or $48,990 a year at the median for Lehigh County, PA. Before any deductions, that is $4,083 a month, $1,884 every two weeks and $942 each week. After taxes the same job pays $19.22 per hour of take-home income, which is the number that actually has to cover rent and groceries.
About this occupation: Miscellaneous Assemblers and Fabricators
The U.S. Department of Labor's O*NET database describes the work of Team Assemblers this way: "Work as part of a team having responsibility for assembling an entire product or component of a product. Team assemblers can perform all tasks conducted by the team in the assembly process and rotate through all or most of them, rather than being assigned to a specific task on a permanent basis. May participate in making management decisions affecting the work. Includes team leaders who work as part of the team."
Core tasks recorded by O*NET include: "Rotate through all the tasks required in a particular production process"; "Determine work assignments and procedures"; "Perform quality checks on products and parts"; "Shovel, sweep, or otherwise clean work areas".
This BLS pay category covers several related O*NET occupations, among them Team Assemblers, Assemblers and Fabricators, All Other, so the wage figures describe the group as a whole.
Job outlook for Miscellaneous Assemblers and Fabricators
The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects national employment in this occupation to grow from 1,403,500 jobs in 2025 to 1,418,400 in 2035, a change of +1.1%, slower than the 3.5% projected for all occupations. The projection counts 138,700 openings a year on average, including positions created by growth and positions left by workers who retire or move to another occupation; that equals 9.9% 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 $44,650 for this occupation; the Lehigh County, PA median of $48,990 is 9.7% above it.
How pay in Lehigh County, PA compares
Compared with the Pennsylvania average
A worker in this occupation in Lehigh County, PA earns $5,337 more than the Pennsylvania average of $43,653, a premium of 12.2%. Over a year that premium is worth $5,337 before tax and roughly $4,356 after tax. Within Pennsylvania, Lehigh County, PA already has the highest median we track for this job.
Compared with the national average
The national employment-weighted average for Miscellaneous Assemblers and Fabricators is $44,643 across the contiguous United States. At $48,990, Lehigh County, PA pays $4,347 more, which is 9.7% 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, Miscellaneous Assemblers and Fabricators ranks number 317 by median pay, ahead of about 32% of them. The best-paying occupation we track here is Registered Nurses at $101,440 a year, which is $52,450 more than the median for Miscellaneous Assemblers and Fabricators.
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 Miscellaneous Assemblers and Fabricators earning the Lehigh County, PA median of $48,990, they add up to $9,002. The result is $39,988 of take-home pay a year ($3,332 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 $33,240. 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 $3,750, 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 $3,037 on this salary. Medicare takes 1.45%, or $710. FICA totals $3,748, which is 7.7% of gross pay.
State income tax in Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania income tax on this salary is $1,504 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 $125 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 7.7% 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 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 $39,988 of take-home pay.
Rent
Housing is the largest line in most budgets. For Lehigh County, PA, HUD sets the Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom unit at $1,519 a month ($18,228 a year), and at $1,839 for two bedrooms. For Miscellaneous Assemblers and Fabricators, a one-bedroom absorbs 45.6% of take-home pay and 37.2% 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 Miscellaneous Assemblers and Fabricators 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
Rent, food, energy and gasoline cost $25,649 a year in Lehigh County, PA. Subtract that from $39,988 of take-home pay and $14,339 remains, which is $1,195 a month of breathing room. That margin equals 29.3% of gross pay, a comfortable cushion by common budgeting rules.
Local housing and commute data for Lehigh County, PA
The budget above covers rent, food, energy and gasoline. Three more local facts shape what a paycheck buys in Lehigh 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 Lehigh County, PA, set beside the Pennsylvania and national medians.
Property taxes in Lehigh County, PA
Homeowners in Lehigh County, PA pay a median of $4,651 a year in real estate taxes, 40% above the Pennsylvania median of $3,311 and 49% above the U.S. median of $3,119. Against a median home value of $300,400, the median tax bill is 1.55% of that value (the ratio of the two county medians). For a worker paid the local Miscellaneous Assemblers and Fabricators median of $48,990, a tax bill of that size would equal 9.5% of gross pay, which matters for anyone planning to buy rather than rent.
Rents, home prices and household income in Lehigh County, PA
Renters in Lehigh County, PA pay a median gross rent of $1,383 a month in the Census survey, 14% above the Pennsylvania median of $1,209. HUD's Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom apartment, which this site uses in the budget, is $1,519 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 $300,400, 18% above the Pennsylvania median of $254,500. Median household income is $80,079, 3% above the Pennsylvania median of $77,971, so a year of one-bedroom Fair Market Rent equals 22.8% of that income.
Commuting in Lehigh County, PA
Workers in Lehigh County, PA who travel to a workplace spend an average of 24.9 minutes each way, 5% below the Pennsylvania average of 26.3. For someone who commutes five days a week, that is 4.2 hours of round-trip travel every week, a cost the budget does not price. 14.0% of workers in Lehigh County, PA work from home, compared with 15.1% nationally, which removes the commute for them.
Can Miscellaneous Assemblers and Fabricators 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 $48,990 that ceiling is $1,225 a month. The one-bedroom Fair Market Rent of $1,519 is $294 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 Miscellaneous Assemblers and Fabricators is $23.55, which is 19% below that mark. Another way to see it: at $19.22 of take-home pay an hour, a one-bedroom takes about 18.2 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 $21,533.
How fast you can save
At $1,195 a month of margin, building a $10,000 emergency fund would take about 9 months. Setting aside half of the margin stretches the same goal to about 18 months. These figures ignore interest, raises and any spending beyond the four basics.
Frequently asked questions about Miscellaneous Assemblers and Fabricators pay in Lehigh County, PA
How much do Miscellaneous Assemblers and Fabricators make per hour in Lehigh County, PA?
The median is $23.55 per hour, based on $48,990 a year over 2,080 hours. Hourly pay runs from about $16.53 at the 10th percentile to $32.22 at the 90th percentile.
How much do Miscellaneous Assemblers and Fabricators take home after taxes in Lehigh County, PA?
After federal income tax, FICA and state income tax, the median salary of $48,990 becomes $39,988 a year. That is $3,332 a month, $1,538 every two weeks or $769 a week.
How much tax do Miscellaneous Assemblers and Fabricators pay in Lehigh County, PA?
Total taxes are $9,002 a year, an effective rate of 18.4%: $3,750 federal income tax, $3,748 FICA and $1,504 Pennsylvania income tax.
Do Miscellaneous Assemblers and Fabricators earn more in Lehigh County, PA than elsewhere in Pennsylvania?
Yes. The local median of $48,990 is +12.2% versus the Pennsylvania average of $43,653, a difference of $5,337 a year.
Can Miscellaneous Assemblers and Fabricators afford a one-bedroom apartment in Lehigh County, PA?
A one-bedroom costs $1,519 a month against take-home pay of $3,332, which is 45.6% of take-home pay. That does not meet the 30%-of-gross guideline, which allows up to $1,225 a month.
What is the monthly budget margin for Miscellaneous Assemblers and Fabricators in Lehigh County, PA?
About $1,195 a month ($14,339 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 Miscellaneous Assemblers and Fabricators is $23.55.
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.