Bartenders in Indiana
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$19,719
after federal, FICA and Indiana tax
Tax takes
$3,051
13.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$21,391
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
$22,770
Kept after tax
$19,719
Worth in national money
$21,391
State rank
46
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Indiana is among the lower-paying states for bartenders. The middle earner takes $22,770, ranking 46 of 51 states — about 33.69% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
- Within Indiana this is lower-paid work. Of 493 occupations the state publishes figures for, bartenders ranks 492. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Here is where Indiana does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $22,770 you keep $19,719, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $21,391 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $27,780, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Indiana ranks 46 of 51 for bartenders, with a median of $22,770 — about 33.69% below the national figure. A nominal shortfall is not by itself a real one: lower-paying states frequently carry lower tax and lower price levels, and the adjusted figures below are where that is settled rather than assumed.
- Against every occupation Indiana reports, bartenders ranks 492 of 493, in the lowest quartile of the state's distribution. That position is set by the local labor market and is independent of how the state compares nationally for this work.
- After federal, FICA and Indiana income tax, retained pay for bartenders on $22,770 is $19,719. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $21,391 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 $27,780 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Bartenders
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $17,050 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $22,770 |
| Top tenth earn over | $45,000 |
| This salary | $22,770 |
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 | $19,719 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $20,361 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$438 |
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 | $21,990 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$517 |
| 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 $22,770. The published range is $17,050 up to $45,000, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- In Indiana the take-home figure of $19,719, from $22,770, 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 492 of 493 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $21,391, the adjusted value of that $22,770 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Indiana. 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 492 of 493 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for bartenders in Indiana the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $17,050 to $45,000. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Take-home for Indiana is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $19,719 from $22,770. 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 492 of 493 locally.
- This $21,391 adjusted figure, worked from $22,770, 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 492 of 493 in the state. The occupation ranks 492 of 493 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 $27,780 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?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $17,050 and the top tenth $45,000 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in Indiana sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $21,391 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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 Indiana's own levy, $19,719 remains.
Can I compare this job across every state?
This occupation is published everywhere — all 51 of them — so comparing states measures real differences rather than gaps in the data.
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 $27,780. 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 ($17,050) and the ninetieth ($45,000) 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 $21,391 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 $19,719 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.
Is this occupation's state coverage complete?
State-level estimates are published for all 51 jurisdictions for this occupation, so cross-state comparison is not confounded by suppression. ⚠️ Estimates remain survey-based and carry sampling error; small differences between adjacent states should not be over-read.