Chief Executives in Indiana

A person arriving at a home office with a bag beside a laptop and navy coffee cup.

May 2025 wages · tax year 2026

You keep

$178,457

after federal, FICA and Indiana tax

Tax takes

$75,723

29.8% of the whole

Worth, in national money

$193,588

Indiana costs less than average

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

$254,180

Kept after tax

$178,457

Worth in national money

$193,588

State rank

13

of 46 states

What this pays, and what it is worth

  • Indiana is one of the better-paying states for chief executives. The middle earner takes $254,180, which ranks 13 of 46 states with published figures. That is about 18.78% above the national middle.
  • Locally, this pays well. Among 493 occupations Indiana reports, chief executives comes in at 4 — comfortably in the upper quarter.
  • Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $254,180 you keep $178,457 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $193,588 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $284,910, since top earners drag the number up.
  • Indiana ranks 13 of 46 states publishing a median for chief executives, at $254,180 — about 18.78% above the national median. A state's position on nominal pay is the figure wage tables report and the least informative of the three on this page, because it survives neither the tax adjustment nor the price adjustment intact for most occupations.
  • Chief executives ranks 4 of 493 occupations by median in Indiana, in the top quartile. Within-state position is largely independent of national position, so this holds regardless of how the state compares to others for the same work.
  • Retained pay in Indiana is $178,457 after the full tax stack, from $254,180. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $193,588 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $284,910 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.

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Pay band: Chief Executives

The state median for this job

50thpercentile, roughly
Lowest tenth earn under$97,340
Half earn under$254,180
Top tenth earn over$494,080
This salary$254,180

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

Compare with
+$7,469take-home per year in Texas
Take-home in Indiana$178,457
Take-home in Texas$185,926
Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity−$2,257

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

Moving to
$0$257,521
$257,521in Texas, for the same life
To match take-home only$242,803
Raise you would need+$3,341
Prices in Texas97 vs 92

State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.

Sources and assumptions
  • Treat $254,180 as a midpoint for Indiana, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $97,340 and the ninetieth is $494,080 — 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 $178,457, worked from $254,180. 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 4 of 493.
  • One number stands for prices across all of Indiana, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $193,588, the adjusted value of that $254,180 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 4 of 493 in the state.
  • The Indiana median of $254,180 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $97,340 to $494,080. 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 $178,457, on $254,180 for work ranking 4 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 4 of 493 in the state.
  • Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Indiana, so $193,588 — the adjusted value of that $254,180 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 4 of 493 locally.

Questions people ask

Is this the average pay for the job?

It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $284,910, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.

Why is the pay range for this job so wide?

The label is broader than the work. From $97,340 at the bottom tenth to $494,080 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.

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 $193,588 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 $178,457.

Why is this job missing from some states?

A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 46 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release one.

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 $284,910. 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 ($97,340) and the ninetieth ($494,080) 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 $193,588 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 $178,457 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.