Crane and Tower Operators in Wisconsin
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$53,905
after federal, FICA and Wisconsin tax
Tax takes
$13,815
20.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$57,902
Wisconsin costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Wisconsin — 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
$67,720
Kept after tax
$53,905
Worth in national money
$57,902
State rank
23
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Wisconsin pays crane and tower operators around $67,720 at the midpoint, 23 of 50 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. Crane and tower operators ranks 179 among 491 occupations Wisconsin publishes pay for.
- Here is where Wisconsin does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $67,720 you keep $53,905, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $57,902 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $72,660, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For crane and tower operators the Wisconsin median is $67,720, ranking 23 of 50 states reporting. Mid-band nominal positions are the ones most frequently reordered by the adjustments, because no large wage premium exists to absorb a state's tax or price level.
- Position 179 of 491 in Wisconsin places crane and tower operators 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.
- After federal, FICA and Wisconsin income tax, retained pay for crane and tower operators on $67,720 is $53,905. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $57,902 in national-average terms. ⚠️ That figure is purchasing power, not a wage, and nobody is paid it; it is what the take-home buys. The mean of $72,660 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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Pay band: Crane and Tower Operators
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $48,980 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $67,720 |
| Top tenth earn over | $104,420 |
| This salary | $67,720 |
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 Wisconsin | $53,905 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $56,471 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$210 |
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 | $64,375 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$290 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 93 |
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 crane and tower operators in Wisconsin earn under $67,720 and half over. The published range runs $48,980 at the tenth percentile to $104,420 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In Wisconsin the take-home figure of $53,905, from $67,720, 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 179 of 491 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $57,902, the adjusted value of that $67,720 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Wisconsin. 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 179 of 491 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for crane and tower operators in Wisconsin, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $48,980 to $104,420; 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.
- Take-home for Wisconsin is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $53,905 from $67,720. 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 179 of 491 locally.
- This $57,902 adjusted figure, worked from $67,720, 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 179 of 491 in the state. The occupation ranks 179 of 491 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 $72,660, 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 $48,980 and the top tenth $104,420 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
A smaller wage in a cheaper place is not automatically less. Adjusted for local prices, this is worth $57,902.
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 Wisconsin adds its own income tax on top — which is why $53,905 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 Wisconsin is $72,660. 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 ($48,980) and the ninetieth ($104,420) 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?
Wisconsin'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 $57,902 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 $53,905 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Wisconsin 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.