Construction Laborers in Idaho
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$38,262
after federal, FICA and Idaho tax
Tax takes
$8,678
18.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$41,850
Idaho costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Idaho — 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
$46,940
Kept after tax
$38,262
Worth in national money
$41,850
State rank
29
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. Idaho is 29 of 51 states for construction laborers, with a middle wage of $46,940. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. Construction laborers ranks 316 among 476 occupations Idaho publishes pay for.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $46,940 you keep $38,262 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $41,850 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $48,630, since top earners drag the number up.
- Idaho ranks 29 of 51 for construction laborers at $46,940. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- Position 316 of 476 in Idaho places construction laborers in the middle of the state's wage distribution. Because within-state and cross-state rankings measure different things, this figure and the national one above should be read together rather than as a single verdict.
- Retained pay in Idaho is $38,262 after the full tax stack, from $46,940. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $41,850 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $48,630 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Construction Laborers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $36,560 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $46,940 |
| Top tenth earn over | $63,190 |
| This salary | $46,940 |
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 Idaho | $38,262 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $39,896 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$794 |
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 | $44,906 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$961 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 91 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Idaho earn less than $46,940. The published range is $36,560 up to $63,190, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Idaho's $38,262, worked from $46,940. 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 316 of 476.
- One number stands for prices across all of Idaho, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $41,850, the adjusted value of that $46,940 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 316 of 476 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for construction laborers in Idaho the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $36,560 to $63,190. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The Idaho take-home of $38,262, on $46,940 for work ranking 316 of 476 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 316 of 476 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Idaho, so $41,850 — the adjusted value of that $46,940 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 316 of 476 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 $48,630, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $36,560 and the top tenth $63,190, so most people doing this work in Idaho sit within a fairly tight band.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in Idaho sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $41,850 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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 Idaho's own levy, $38,262 remains.
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.
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 Idaho is $48,630. 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 ($36,560 to $63,190) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Idaho rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Idaho'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 $41,850 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 $38,262 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Idaho 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.