Civil Engineers in Oklahoma
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$74,364
after federal, FICA and Oklahoma tax
Tax takes
$24,396
24.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$84,231
Oklahoma costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Oklahoma — 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
$98,760
Kept after tax
$74,364
Worth in national money
$84,231
State rank
25
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Oklahoma sits in the middle of the pack for civil engineers. The median is $98,760, ranking 25 of 51 states with figures. Close enough to the national middle that where you live matters more than the headline suggests.
- Within Oklahoma this is well-paid work. Of 492 occupations with published figures in the state, civil engineers ranks 47 — in the top quarter of everything people do there.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $98,760 you keep $74,364 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $84,231 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $105,570, since top earners drag the number up.
- Oklahoma occupies the middle band for civil engineers: a median of $98,760, ranking 25 of 51. Where nominal pay is close to the national figure, the tax and price adjustments below carry proportionally more weight in determining the real outcome.
- Ranked against every occupation Oklahoma publishes a median for, civil engineers sits 47 of 492 — the upper quartile of the state's wage distribution. National standing and within-state standing are separate questions, and a job can occupy very different positions on each.
- Retained pay in Oklahoma is $74,364 after the full tax stack, from $98,760. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $84,231 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $105,570 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Civil Engineers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $66,550 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $98,760 |
| Top tenth earn over | $153,470 |
| This salary | $98,760 |
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 Oklahoma | $74,364 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $78,308 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$3,647 |
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 | $93,154 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$5,037 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 88 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Oklahoma earn less than $98,760. The published range is $66,550 up to $153,470, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $74,364 take-home in Oklahoma comes from $98,760. 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 47 of 492.
- Two cautions on $84,231, the adjusted value of that $98,760 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Oklahoma. 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 47 of 492 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for civil engineers in Oklahoma the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $66,550 to $153,470. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $74,364, from $98,760, assumes a single Oklahoma 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 47 of 492 locally, and the state ranks 25 of 51 for it.
- This $84,231 adjusted figure, worked from $98,760, 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 47 of 492 in the state. The occupation ranks 47 of 492 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
No — it is the middle. Half of these workers earn more and half earn less. The average is $105,570, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $66,550 and the top tenth $153,470 — 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 Oklahoma sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $84,231 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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; Oklahoma then takes its own share, leaving $74,364.
Can I compare this job across every state?
All 51 jurisdictions report this work, which makes the ranking a like-for-like 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 Oklahoma is $105,570. 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 ($66,550) and the ninetieth ($153,470) 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?
Oklahoma'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 $84,231 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 $74,364 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Oklahoma 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.