Art Directors in Idaho
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$62,166
after federal, FICA and Idaho tax
Tax takes
$18,514
22.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$67,996
Idaho costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Idaho — 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
$80,680
Kept after tax
$62,166
Worth in national money
$67,996
State rank
33
of 46 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for art directors is on the low side in Idaho. The middle earner gets $80,680. That is 33 of 46 states, and about 29.75% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in Idaho. It ranks 100 out of 476 occupations the state publishes figures for, which puts it in the top quarter locally.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $80,680 you keep $62,166 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $67,996 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $89,980, since top earners drag the number up.
- For art directors, Idaho sits in the lower band at $80,680, ranking 33 of 46 and trailing the national median by about 29.75%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Within Idaho, art directors ranks 100 of 476 occupations by median pay, placing it in the top quartile of the local distribution. This is the comparison a resident actually makes — against neighbors rather than against the same job elsewhere.
- Retained pay in Idaho is $62,166 after the full tax stack, from $80,680. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $67,996 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $89,980 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Art Directors
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $51,990 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $80,680 |
| Top tenth earn over | $155,210 |
| This salary | $80,680 |
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 Idaho | $62,166 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $65,588 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$501 |
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 | $75,815 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$692 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 91 |
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 art directors in Idaho earn under $80,680 and half over. The published range runs $51,990 at the tenth percentile to $155,210 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $62,166 take-home in Idaho comes from $80,680. 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 100 of 476.
- Two cautions on $67,996, the adjusted value of that $80,680 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Idaho. No actual address matches that. The wage figures and price figures are also from different years. Each is published on its own timetable. This work sits at 100 of 476 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for art directors in Idaho, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $51,990 to $155,210; 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 $62,166, from $80,680, assumes a single Idaho 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 100 of 476 locally, and the state ranks 33 of 46 for it.
- This $67,996 adjusted figure, worked from $80,680, rests on a state-level price parity averaging over within-state dispersion larger than much of the between-state dispersion. Wage and price vintages differ by publication schedule. The result is directionally sound and not address-specific, for work at 100 of 476 in the state. The occupation ranks 100 of 476 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $89,980, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $51,990, the highest tenth $155,210, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in Idaho sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $67,996 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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; Idaho then takes its own share, leaving $62,166.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 46 states here, and a missing state means too few reports, not no jobs.
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 Idaho is $89,980. 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 ($51,990) and the ninetieth ($155,210) 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?
Idaho'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 $67,996 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 $62,166 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Idaho 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 46 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.