Carpenters in Indiana
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$50,871
after federal, FICA and Indiana tax
Tax takes
$11,999
19.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$55,184
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
$62,870
Kept after tax
$50,871
Worth in national money
$55,184
State rank
12
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. Indiana pays carpenters a middle wage of $62,870, ranking 12 of 51 states and sitting about 3.78% above the national middle.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 493 occupations Indiana reports figures for, this is number 184.
- Here is where Indiana does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $62,870 you keep $50,871, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $55,184 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $64,950, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Indiana's median for carpenters is $62,870, about 3.78% above the national figure and 12 of 51 states reporting. Whether that premium reaches the worker depends on the two adjustments below, which is the part a wage table cannot tell you.
- In Indiana's occupational distribution, carpenters sits at 184 of 493 — neither quartile. This local position is what a resident compares against, and it is determined by the state's own labor market rather than by national patterns for this occupation.
- After federal, FICA and Indiana income tax, retained pay for carpenters on $62,870 is $50,871. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $55,184 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 $64,950 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Carpenters
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $45,510 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $62,870 |
| Top tenth earn over | $90,700 |
| This salary | $62,870 |
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 | $50,871 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $52,696 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$956 |
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 | $60,598 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,156 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 92 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $62,870 as a midpoint for Indiana, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $45,510 and the ninetieth is $90,700 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Indiana's $50,871, worked from $62,870. 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 184 of 493.
- One number stands for prices across all of Indiana, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $55,184, the adjusted value of that $62,870 median, as a way to compare states fairly, not as a quote for any particular place. The two datasets are also from different years. This job sits at 184 of 493 in the state.
- The Indiana median of $62,870 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $45,510 to $90,700. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- The Indiana take-home of $50,871, on $62,870 for work ranking 184 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 184 of 493 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Indiana, so $55,184 — the adjusted value of that $62,870 median — establishes comparability between states rather than accuracy within one. The wage and parity series are dated independently, each following its own publication cycle, and neither is projected forward. This occupation sits at 184 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 $64,950 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $45,510 and the top tenth $90,700, so most people doing this work in Indiana sit within a fairly tight band.
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 $55,184 in national terms.
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, $50,871 remains.
Can I compare this job across every state?
Yes for this one. Pay is published in all 51 jurisdictions, so a state-to-state comparison here rests on the same survey everywhere rather than on a patchwork.
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 $64,950. 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 is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($45,510 to $90,700) 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 $55,184 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 $50,871 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.