Couriers and Messengers in Indiana
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$31,056
after federal, FICA and Indiana tax
Tax takes
$6,214
16.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$33,690
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
$37,270
Kept after tax
$31,056
Worth in national money
$33,690
State rank
38
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Indiana is among the lower-paying states for couriers and messengers. The middle earner takes $37,270, ranking 38 of 51 states — about 4.92% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
- Within Indiana this is lower-paid work. Of 493 occupations the state publishes figures for, couriers and messengers ranks 430. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Indiana is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $37,270 the take-home is $31,056; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $33,690 would nationally. The average comes to $39,330, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Indiana ranks 38 of 51 for couriers and messengers, with a median of $37,270 — about 4.92% below the national figure. A nominal shortfall is not by itself a real one: lower-paying states frequently carry lower tax and lower price levels, and the adjusted figures below are where that is settled rather than assumed.
- Against every occupation Indiana reports, couriers and messengers ranks 430 of 493, in the lowest quartile of the state's distribution. That position is set by the local labor market and is independent of how the state compares nationally for this work.
- Post-tax income for couriers and messengers in Indiana, on $37,270, is $31,056 — equivalent to $33,690 once regional price parity is applied. ⚠️ The adjustment uses a statewide index that describes no particular address; within-state price variation, concentrated in housing, routinely exceeds the difference between two states. At $39,330 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Couriers and Messengers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $31,640 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $37,270 |
| Top tenth earn over | $50,910 |
| This salary | $37,270 |
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 | $31,056 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $32,126 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$629 |
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 | $35,938 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$761 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 92 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Indiana earn less than $37,270. The published range is $31,640 up to $50,910, 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 Indiana's $31,056, worked from $37,270. 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 430 of 493.
- One number stands for prices across all of Indiana, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $33,690, the adjusted value of that $37,270 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 430 of 493 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for couriers and messengers in Indiana the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $31,640 to $50,910. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The Indiana take-home of $31,056, on $37,270 for work ranking 430 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 430 of 493 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Indiana, so $33,690 — the adjusted value of that $37,270 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 430 of 493 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 $39,330 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $31,640 at the tenth percentile, $50,910 at the ninetieth.
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 $33,690 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 $31,056 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 Indiana is $39,330. 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 ($31,640 to $50,910) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Indiana rather than a national figure.
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 $33,690 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 $31,056 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.
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.