Diagnostic Medical Sonographers in North Dakota
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$67,778
after federal, FICA and North Dakota tax
Tax takes
$16,562
19.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$76,523
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
$84,340
Kept after tax
$67,778
Worth in national money
$76,523
State rank
36
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is on the low side in North Dakota. The middle earner gets $84,340. That is 36 of 51 states, and about 12.68% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in North Dakota. It ranks 81 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 $84,340 you keep $67,778 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $76,523 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $87,020, since top earners drag the number up.
- For diagnostic medical sonographers, North Dakota sits in the lower band at $84,340, ranking 36 of 51 and trailing the national median by about 12.68%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Within North Dakota, diagnostic medical sonographers ranks 81 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 $67,778 after the full tax stack, from $84,340. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $76,523 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $87,020 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Diagnostic Medical Sonographers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $66,890 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $84,340 |
| Top tenth earn over | $102,570 |
| This salary | $84,340 |
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 | $67,778 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $68,163 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$6,378 |
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 | $83,792 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$8,810 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 89 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $84,340 as a midpoint for North Dakota, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $66,890 and the ninetieth is $102,570 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind North Dakota's $67,778, worked from $84,340. 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 81 of 460.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $76,523 uses one figure for the whole of North Dakota. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 460 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 81.
- The North Dakota median of $84,340 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $66,890 to $102,570. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- The North Dakota take-home of $67,778, on $84,340 for work ranking 81 of 460 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 81 of 460 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $76,523, worked from $84,340, deflates by a statewide parity that conceals substantial intra-state variation, concentrated in housing — so it supports comparison between states rather than the pricing of a move to a particular North Dakota address, on work sitting at 81 of 460 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 $87,020 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 $66,890 and the top tenth $102,570, so most people doing this work in North Dakota sit within a fairly tight band.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. North Dakota is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $76,523 in national terms.
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 $67,778 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 North Dakota is $87,020. 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 ($66,890 to $102,570) 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 $76,523 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 $67,778 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.
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.