Construction Laborers in Oklahoma
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$32,535
after federal, FICA and Oklahoma tax
Tax takes
$6,825
17.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$36,852
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
$39,360
Kept after tax
$32,535
Worth in national money
$36,852
State rank
45
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for construction laborers is on the low side in Oklahoma. The middle earner gets $39,360. That is 45 of 51 states, and about 16.47% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Against 492 occupations Oklahoma publishes, construction laborers lands at 371. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $39,360 you keep $32,535 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $36,852 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $43,310, since top earners drag the number up.
- For construction laborers, Oklahoma sits in the lower band at $39,360, ranking 45 of 51 and trailing the national median by about 16.47%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Within Oklahoma, this work ranks 371 of 492 occupations by median pay, in the bottom quartile. The within-state position is the more salient one for anyone weighing this job against alternatives available to them locally.
- Retained pay in Oklahoma is $32,535 after the full tax stack, from $39,360. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $36,852 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $43,310 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Construction Laborers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $33,490 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $39,360 |
| Top tenth earn over | $58,070 |
| This salary | $39,360 |
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 | $32,535 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $33,806 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,063 |
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 | $37,779 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,495 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 88 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- A median is the middle, not an offer. Half of construction laborers in Oklahoma earn under $39,360 and half over. The published range runs $33,490 at the tenth percentile to $58,070 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Oklahoma's $32,535, worked from $39,360. 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 371 of 492.
- One number stands for prices across all of Oklahoma, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $36,852, the adjusted value of that $39,360 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 371 of 492 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for construction laborers in Oklahoma, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $33,490 to $58,070; within-state dispersion of that width routinely exceeds the dispersion between states, so tenure, employer and metropolitan area predict an individual's pay better than geography does.
- The Oklahoma take-home of $32,535, on $39,360 for work ranking 371 of 492 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 371 of 492 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Oklahoma, so $36,852 — the adjusted value of that $39,360 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 371 of 492 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 $43,310 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 $33,490 and the top tenth $58,070, so most people doing this work in Oklahoma sit within a fairly tight band.
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 $36,852 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 Oklahoma adds its own income tax on top — which is why $32,535 of this wage survives to your account.
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 Oklahoma is $43,310. 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 ($33,490 to $58,070) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Oklahoma rather than a national figure.
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 $36,852 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 $32,535 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.