Database Architects in North Dakota
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$84,939
after federal, FICA and North Dakota tax
Tax takes
$24,491
22.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$95,899
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
$109,430
Kept after tax
$84,939
Worth in national money
$95,899
State rank
43
of 46 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- North Dakota is among the lower-paying states for database architects. The middle earner takes $109,430, ranking 43 of 46 states — about 21.56% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in North Dakota. It ranks 31 out of 460 occupations the state publishes figures for, which puts it in the top quarter locally.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $109,430 you keep $84,939 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $95,899 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $113,270, since top earners drag the number up.
- North Dakota ranks 43 of 46 for database architects, with a median of $109,430 — about 21.56% 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.
- Within North Dakota, database architects ranks 31 of 460 occupations by median pay, placing it in the top quartile of the local distribution. This is the comparison a resident actually makes — against neighbors rather than against the same job elsewhere.
- Retained pay in North Dakota is $84,939 after the full tax stack, from $109,430. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $95,899 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $113,270 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Database Architects
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $86,370 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $109,430 |
| Top tenth earn over | $138,250 |
| This salary | $109,430 |
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 | $84,939 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $85,814 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$7,590 |
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 | $108,187 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$10,484 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 89 |
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 database architects in North Dakota earn under $109,430 and half over. The published range runs $86,370 at the tenth percentile to $138,250 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $84,939 take-home in North Dakota comes from $109,430. It is the no-frills case: single filer, standard deduction, nothing set aside before tax. Real circumstances almost always reduce the tax. City and school-district taxes are not counted at all. Locally the work ranks 31 of 460.
- Two cautions on $95,899, the adjusted value of that $109,430 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 31 of 460 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for database architects in North Dakota, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $86,370 to $138,250; 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.
- Retained pay of $84,939, from $109,430, assumes a single North Dakota filer with the standard deduction and no elective deferrals. Pre-tax retirement or HSA contributions, dependants and itemized deductions all reduce it further; local income taxes, excluded here, would increase it in the states that levy them. This occupation ranks 31 of 460 locally, and the state ranks 43 of 46 for it.
- This $95,899 adjusted figure, worked from $109,430, 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 31 of 460 in the state. The occupation ranks 31 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 $113,270, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $86,370 at the bottom tenth to $138,250 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
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 $95,899.
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 $84,939 of this wage survives to your account.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 46 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release one.
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 $113,270. 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 ($86,370 to $138,250) 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 $95,899 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 $84,939 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 46 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.