Crane and Tower Operators in North Dakota
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$66,786
after federal, FICA and North Dakota tax
Tax takes
$16,104
19.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$75,403
North Dakota costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in North Dakota — 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
$82,890
Kept after tax
$66,786
Worth in national money
$75,403
State rank
11
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. North Dakota pays crane and tower operators a middle wage of $82,890, ranking 11 of 50 states and sitting about 21.75% above the national middle.
- Within North Dakota this is well-paid work. Of 460 occupations with published figures in the state, crane and tower operators ranks 86 — in the top quarter of everything people do there.
- North Dakota is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $82,890 the take-home is $66,786; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $75,403 would nationally. The average lands at $79,800, below the middle of the range.
- North Dakota's median for crane and tower operators is $82,890, about 21.75% above the national figure and 11 of 50 states reporting. Whether that premium reaches the worker depends on the two adjustments below, which is the part a wage table cannot tell you.
- Ranked against every occupation North Dakota publishes a median for, crane and tower operators sits 86 of 460 — 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.
- Post-tax income for crane and tower operators in North Dakota, on $82,890, is $66,786 — equivalent to $75,403 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 $79,800 the mean undershoots the median, an inversion of the usual skew.
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Pay band: Crane and Tower Operators
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $50,200 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $82,890 |
| Top tenth earn over | $96,790 |
| This salary | $82,890 |
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 North Dakota | $66,786 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $67,143 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$6,308 |
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 | $82,382 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$8,713 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 89 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $82,890 as a midpoint for North Dakota, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $50,200 and the ninetieth is $96,790 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In North Dakota the take-home figure of $66,786, from $82,890, assumes one filer, no dependants, and nothing paid into a pension before tax. Each of those lowers the bill, so treat it as the plain case. City and school-district income taxes are not included either, and in a few states those are real money. It ranks 86 of 460 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $75,403, the adjusted value of that $82,890 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of North Dakota. 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 86 of 460 locally.
- The North Dakota median of $82,890 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $50,200 to $96,790. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Take-home for North Dakota is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $66,786 from $82,890. Each omitted item reduces taxable income, so the figure is a lower bound on retained pay for this household shape. Municipal and school-district income taxes are excluded, which understates the burden materially in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The occupation ranks 86 of 460 locally.
- This $75,403 adjusted figure, worked from $82,890, 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 86 of 460 in the state. The occupation ranks 86 of 460 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $79,800, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $50,200 at the tenth percentile, $96,790 at the ninetieth.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in North Dakota sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $75,403 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 North Dakota adds its own income tax on top — which is why $66,786 of this wage survives to your account.
Why is this job missing from some states?
Because the survey suppresses a figure when too few employers report it. This occupation has published pay in 50 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
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 North Dakota is $79,800. 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 ($50,200 to $96,790) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to North Dakota rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
North Dakota'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 $75,403 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 $66,786 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and North Dakota 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 50 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.