Packers and Packagers, Hand Salary

It’s a stretch — at the median salary of $39K, rent takes 41.6% of take-home pay. A 2-bedroom at the HUD Fair Market Rent runs $1,113/month. The 30% guideline puts the comfortable ceiling at roughly $800/month in rent — so roommates or a 1-bedroom would ease the math significantly.

The 10th-percentile wage — what new packers and packagers, hands typically earn — is $29K/year. Take-home on that works out to about $1,732/month. At HUD’s $1,113/month FMR, rent would take 64% of that take-home — above the 30% guideline, so a 1-bedroom or shared housing is likely necessary starting out.

Pay here is roughly in line with the national average — $39K locally vs. $36K nationally, a 7% difference.

Nebraska pays $39K median vs. the U.S. average of $36K — that’s +7%. After adjusting for local cost of living (RPP 90.05), the purchasing-power equivalent is $43K — still ahead of the national median.

The median is $38,880 a year, that works out to about $19 an hour. But the range is wide: entry-level workers start around $28,870, and experienced packers and packagers, hands can clear $49,500. These are BLS numbers, based on employer-reported data, not self-reported surveys.

On that salary, you'd take home roughly $2,675/month after taxes. A 2-bedroom here rents for about $1,113/month, which eats 41.6% of your paycheck. That's above the 30% rule of thumb, housing will be a stretch at the median salary, though you can manage with roommates or a smaller place.

Nebraska has a Regional Price Parity of 90.05 (100 is the national average). That's below average, your money stretches further here than the raw salary number suggests. After cost-of-living adjustment, the median packers and packagers, hand salary is worth about $43,176 in national-average purchasing power.

The table above ranks every state by median pay for this role. Keep in mind that the highest-paying states tend to have the highest costs of living, so the top salary doesn't always mean the most money in your pocket.