Architectural and Civil Drafters in North Dakota
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$54,180
after federal, FICA and North Dakota tax
Tax takes
$10,540
16.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$61,170
North Dakota costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in North Dakota — 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
$64,720
Kept after tax
$54,180
Worth in national money
$61,170
State rank
22
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- North Dakota sits in the middle of the pack for this job. The median is $64,720, ranking 22 of 50 states with figures. Close enough to the national middle that where you live matters more than the headline suggests.
- Against other work in North Dakota, this sits in the middle: 182 of 460 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $64,720 you keep $54,180 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $61,170 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $67,570, since top earners drag the number up.
- North Dakota occupies the middle band for architectural and civil drafters: a median of $64,720, ranking 22 of 50. Where nominal pay is close to the national figure, the tax and price adjustments below carry proportionally more weight in determining the real outcome.
- Architectural and civil drafters ranks 182 of 460 occupations in North Dakota by median pay, in the middle bands. Within-state and national positions are separate measurements and a job commonly sits in different quartiles on each.
- Retained pay in North Dakota is $54,180 after the full tax stack, from $64,720. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $61,170 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $67,570 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 | $47,430 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $64,720 |
| Top tenth earn over | $92,820 |
| This salary | $64,720 |
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 Dakota | $54,180 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $54,183 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$5,413 |
The raise and the real gain point in opposite directions here.
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 | $64,716 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$7,223 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 89 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in North Dakota earn less than $64,720. The published range is $47,430 up to $92,820, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $54,180 take-home in North Dakota comes from $64,720. 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 182 of 460.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $61,170 uses one figure for the whole of North Dakota. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 460 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 182.
- Reported values are medians; for architectural and civil drafters in North Dakota the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $47,430 to $92,820. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $54,180, from $64,720, assumes a single North Dakota 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 182 of 460 locally, and the state ranks 22 of 50 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $61,170, worked from $64,720, deflates by a statewide parity that conceals substantial intra-state variation, concentrated in housing — so it supports comparison between states rather than the pricing of a move to a particular North Dakota address, on work sitting at 182 of 460 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
No — it is the middle. Half of these workers earn more and half earn less. The average is $67,570, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $47,430 and the top tenth $92,820, so most people doing this work in North Dakota sit within a fairly tight band.
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 $61,170.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Three of them are federal and one is not. After income tax, Social Security, Medicare and North Dakota's own levy, $54,180 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 50 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release one.
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 Dakota is $67,570. 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 is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($47,430 to $92,820) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to North Dakota rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
North Dakota'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 $61,170 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 $54,180 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and North Dakota 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.