Butchers and Meat Cutters in Indiana
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$35,058
after federal, FICA and Indiana tax
Tax takes
$7,382
17.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$38,031
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
$42,440
Kept after tax
$35,058
Worth in national money
$38,031
State rank
22
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Indiana pays butchers and meat cutters around $42,440 at the midpoint, 22 of 51 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Against 493 occupations Indiana publishes, butchers and meat cutters lands at 395. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Here is where Indiana does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $42,440 you keep $35,058, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $38,031 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $43,050, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For butchers and meat cutters the Indiana median is $42,440, ranking 22 of 51 states reporting. Mid-band nominal positions are the ones most frequently reordered by the adjustments, because no large wage premium exists to absorb a state's tax or price level.
- Within Indiana, this work ranks 395 of 493 occupations by median pay, in the bottom quartile. The within-state position is the more salient one for anyone weighing this job against alternatives available to them locally.
- After federal, FICA and Indiana income tax, retained pay for butchers and meat cutters on $42,440 is $35,058. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $38,031 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 $43,050 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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Pay band: Butchers and Meat Cutters
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $31,510 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $42,440 |
| Top tenth earn over | $56,770 |
| This salary | $42,440 |
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 | $35,058 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $36,281 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$695 |
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 | $40,919 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$841 |
| 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 $42,440. The published range is $31,510 up to $56,770, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $35,058 take-home in Indiana comes from $42,440. 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 395 of 493.
- Two cautions on $38,031, the adjusted value of that $42,440 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 395 of 493 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for butchers and meat cutters in Indiana the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $31,510 to $56,770. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $35,058, from $42,440, assumes a single Indiana 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 395 of 493 locally, and the state ranks 22 of 51 for it.
- This $38,031 adjusted figure, worked from $42,440, 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 395 of 493 in the state. The occupation ranks 395 of 493 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $31,510 at the bottom tenth to $56,770 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
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 $38,031 in national terms.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Into four separate taxes, not one. Federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare apply everywhere, and Indiana adds its own income tax on top — which is why $35,058 of this wage survives to your account.
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.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($31,510 to $56,770) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Indiana rather than a national figure.
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 $38,031 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 $35,058 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.