Art Directors in Wisconsin
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$62,543
after federal, FICA and Wisconsin tax
Tax takes
$18,587
22.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$67,181
Wisconsin costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Wisconsin — 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
$81,130
Kept after tax
$62,543
Worth in national money
$67,181
State rank
31
of 46 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Wisconsin pays art directors a middle wage of $81,130, 31 of 46 states and about 29.36% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in Wisconsin. It ranks 114 out of 491 occupations the state publishes figures for, which puts it in the top quarter locally.
- Here is where Wisconsin does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $81,130 you keep $62,543, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $67,181 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $95,070, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Wisconsin's $81,130 median for art directors places it 31 of 46 states, about 29.36% below national. Because both the tax and price adjustments tend to favor lower-nominal states, this ranking is the least stable of the three reported here.
- Within Wisconsin, art directors ranks 114 of 491 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 Wisconsin income tax, retained pay for art directors on $81,130 is $62,543. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $67,181 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 $95,070 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 | $58,470 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $81,130 |
| Top tenth earn over | $131,850 |
| This salary | $81,130 |
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 Wisconsin | $62,543 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $65,905 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$640 |
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 | $76,352 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$884 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 93 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Wisconsin earn less than $81,130. The published range is $58,470 up to $131,850, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- In Wisconsin the take-home figure of $62,543, from $81,130, assumes one filer, no dependants, and nothing paid into a pension before tax. Each of those lowers the bill, so treat it as the plain case. City and school-district income taxes are not included either, and in a few states those are real money. It ranks 114 of 491 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $67,181, the adjusted value of that $81,130 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Wisconsin. 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 114 of 491 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for art directors in Wisconsin the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $58,470 to $131,850. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Take-home for Wisconsin is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $62,543 from $81,130. Each omitted item reduces taxable income, so the figure is a lower bound on retained pay for this household shape. Municipal and school-district income taxes are excluded, which understates the burden materially in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The occupation ranks 114 of 491 locally.
- This $67,181 adjusted figure, worked from $81,130, 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 114 of 491 in the state. The occupation ranks 114 of 491 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 $95,070 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?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $58,470, the highest tenth $131,850, 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. Wisconsin is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $67,181 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; Wisconsin then takes its own share, leaving $62,543.
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 Wisconsin is $95,070. 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 ($58,470) and the ninetieth ($131,850) 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?
Wisconsin'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 $67,181 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 $62,543 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Wisconsin 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.