Art Directors in Indiana
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$80,095
after federal, FICA and Indiana tax
Tax takes
$25,595
24.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$86,886
Indiana costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Indiana — 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
$105,690
Kept after tax
$80,095
Worth in national money
$86,886
State rank
12
of 46 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for art directors is strong here. Indiana's middle earner gets $105,690, putting the state 12 of 46 — about 7.98% ahead of the national figure.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in Indiana. It ranks 38 out of 493 occupations the state publishes figures for, which puts it in the top quarter locally.
- Here is where Indiana does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $105,690 you keep $80,095, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $86,886 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $122,190, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For art directors, Indiana sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $105,690, ranking 12 of 46 and running about 7.98% above the national midpoint. Nominal advantage of this size is usually, though not always, large enough to survive the state's own tax and price levels.
- Within Indiana, art directors ranks 38 of 493 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.
- After federal, FICA and Indiana income tax, retained pay for art directors on $105,690 is $80,095. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $86,886 in national-average terms. ⚠️ That figure is purchasing power, not a wage, and nobody is paid it; it is what the take-home buys. The mean of $122,190 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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Pay band: Art Directors
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $61,990 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $105,690 |
| Top tenth earn over | $185,690 |
| This salary | $105,690 |
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 Indiana | $80,095 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $83,183 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,284 |
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 | $101,300 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,774 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 92 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Indiana earn less than $105,690. The published range is $61,990 up to $185,690, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Indiana's $80,095, worked from $105,690. That is on purpose. It lets states be compared with each other, not with each other's family circumstances. Local city taxes are left out. Locally this work ranks 38 of 493.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $86,886 uses one figure for the whole of Indiana. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 493 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 38.
- Reported values are medians; for art directors in Indiana the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $61,990 to $185,690. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The Indiana take-home of $80,095, on $105,690 for work ranking 38 of 493 locally, models the simplest household deliberately: holding it constant is what makes the interstate comparison meaningful. It also means the absolute figure overstates liability for most real filers, and municipal income taxes are outside the model entirely. The occupation ranks 38 of 493 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $86,886, worked from $105,690, 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 Indiana address, on work sitting at 38 of 493 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 $122,190, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $61,990, the highest tenth $185,690, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Indiana is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $86,886 in national terms.
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; Indiana then takes its own share, leaving $80,095.
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 46 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 Indiana is $122,190. 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 ($61,990) and the ninetieth ($185,690) 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?
Indiana'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 $86,886 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 $80,095 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Indiana 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.