Architectural and Civil Drafters in North Carolina
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$50,605
after federal, FICA and North Carolina tax
Tax takes
$12,145
19.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$53,755
North Carolina costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in North Carolina — 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
$62,750
Kept after tax
$50,605
Worth in national money
$53,755
State rank
32
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. North Carolina pays this job around $62,750 at the midpoint, 32 of 50 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 489 occupations North Carolina reports figures for, this is number 181.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $62,750 you keep $50,605 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $53,755 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $66,430, since top earners drag the number up.
- For architectural and civil drafters the North Carolina median is $62,750, ranking 32 of 50 states reporting. Mid-band nominal positions are the ones most frequently reordered by the adjustments, because no large wage premium exists to absorb a state's tax or price level.
- In North Carolina's occupational distribution, architectural and civil drafters sits at 181 of 489 — neither quartile. This local position is what a resident compares against, and it is determined by the state's own labor market rather than by national patterns for this occupation.
- Retained pay in North Carolina is $50,605 after the full tax stack, from $62,750. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $53,755 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $66,430 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Architectural and Civil Drafters
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $42,790 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $62,750 |
| Top tenth earn over | $95,540 |
| This salary | $62,750 |
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 North Carolina | $50,605 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $52,600 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$374 |
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 | $60,267 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$452 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 94 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- A median is the middle, not an offer. Half of architectural and civil drafters in North Carolina earn under $62,750 and half over. The published range runs $42,790 at the tenth percentile to $95,540 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $50,605 take-home in North Carolina comes from $62,750. It is the no-frills case: single filer, standard deduction, nothing set aside before tax. Real circumstances almost always reduce the tax. City and school-district taxes are not counted at all. Locally the work ranks 181 of 489.
- One number stands for prices across all of North Carolina, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $53,755, the adjusted value of that $62,750 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 181 of 489 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for architectural and civil drafters in North Carolina, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $42,790 to $95,540; within-state dispersion of that width routinely exceeds the dispersion between states, so tenure, employer and metropolitan area predict an individual's pay better than geography does.
- Retained pay of $50,605, from $62,750, assumes a single North Carolina filer with the standard deduction and no elective deferrals. Pre-tax retirement or HSA contributions, dependants and itemized deductions all reduce it further; local income taxes, excluded here, would increase it in the states that levy them. This occupation ranks 181 of 489 locally, and the state ranks 32 of 50 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for North Carolina, so $53,755 — the adjusted value of that $62,750 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 181 of 489 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
Half earn more than this and half earn less. The average sits at $66,430 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
The label is broader than the work. From $42,790 at the bottom tenth to $95,540 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
A smaller wage in a cheaper place is not automatically less. Adjusted for local prices, this is worth $53,755.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Four deductions, stacked. The federal layer and the two payroll taxes apply wherever you work; North Carolina then takes its own share, leaving $50,605.
Why is this job missing from some states?
Because the survey suppresses a figure when too few employers report it. This occupation has published pay in 50 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
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 North Carolina is $66,430. 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 drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($42,790) and the ninetieth ($95,540) exceeds the family median dispersion. SOC codes aggregate roles differing in seniority, industry and specialisation, and BLS does not disaggregate below the detailed occupation level, so within-title variance is not separable from the published series.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
North Carolina'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 $53,755 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 $50,605 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and North Carolina 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 50 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.