Commercial Pilots in Indiana
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$79,063
after federal, FICA and Indiana tax
Tax takes
$25,097
24.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$85,767
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
$104,160
Kept after tax
$79,063
Worth in national money
$85,767
State rank
33
of 48 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Indiana pays commercial pilots a middle wage of $104,160, 33 of 48 states and about 15.47% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Within Indiana this is well-paid work. Of 493 occupations with published figures in the state, commercial pilots ranks 41 — in the top quarter of everything people do there.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $104,160 you keep $79,063 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $85,767 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $125,910, since top earners drag the number up.
- Indiana's $104,160 median for commercial pilots places it 33 of 48 states, about 15.47% below national. Because both the tax and price adjustments tend to favor lower-nominal states, this ranking is the least stable of the three reported here.
- Ranked against every occupation Indiana publishes a median for, commercial pilots sits 41 of 493 — 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 Indiana is $79,063 after the full tax stack, from $104,160. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $85,767 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $125,910 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Commercial Pilots
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $63,250 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $104,160 |
| Top tenth earn over | $221,260 |
| This salary | $104,160 |
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 | $79,063 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $82,107 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,273 |
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 | $99,834 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,759 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 92 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $104,160 as a midpoint for Indiana, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $63,250 and the ninetieth is $221,260 — 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 $79,063, worked from $104,160. 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 41 of 493.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $85,767 uses one figure for the whole of Indiana. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 493 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 41.
- The Indiana median of $104,160 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $63,250 to $221,260. 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 $79,063, on $104,160 for work ranking 41 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 41 of 493 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $85,767, worked from $104,160, deflates by a statewide parity that conceals substantial intra-state variation, concentrated in housing — so it supports comparison between states rather than the pricing of a move to a particular Indiana address, on work sitting at 41 of 493 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 $125,910, 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 $63,250 and the top tenth $221,260 — 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 $85,767 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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 $79,063 of this wage survives to your account.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 48 states here, and a missing state means too few reports, not no jobs.
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 $125,910. 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 ($63,250) and the ninetieth ($221,260) 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 $85,767 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 $79,063 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 48 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.