Drywall and Ceiling Tile Installers in Indiana
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$40,762
after federal, FICA and Indiana tax
Tax takes
$9,048
18.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$44,219
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
$49,810
Kept after tax
$40,762
Worth in national money
$44,219
State rank
31
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Indiana pays drywall and ceiling tile installers around $49,810 at the midpoint, 31 of 49 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Against other work in Indiana, this sits in the middle: 289 of 493 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $49,810 you keep $40,762 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $44,219 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $54,380, since top earners drag the number up.
- For drywall and ceiling tile installers the Indiana median is $49,810, ranking 31 of 49 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.
- Drywall and ceiling tile installers ranks 289 of 493 occupations in Indiana by median pay, in the middle bands. Within-state and national positions are separate measurements and a job commonly sits in different quartiles on each.
- Retained pay in Indiana is $40,762 after the full tax stack, from $49,810. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $44,219 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $54,380 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Drywall and Ceiling Tile Installers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $43,730 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $49,810 |
| Top tenth earn over | $69,850 |
| This salary | $49,810 |
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 | $40,762 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $42,202 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$789 |
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 | $48,018 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$955 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 92 |
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 drywall and ceiling tile installers in Indiana earn under $49,810 and half over. The published range runs $43,730 at the tenth percentile to $69,850 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In Indiana the take-home figure of $40,762, from $49,810, 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 289 of 493 occupations here.
- One number stands for prices across all of Indiana, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $44,219, the adjusted value of that $49,810 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 289 of 493 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for drywall and ceiling tile installers in Indiana, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $43,730 to $69,850; 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 Indiana is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $40,762 from $49,810. 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 289 of 493 locally.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Indiana, so $44,219 — the adjusted value of that $49,810 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 289 of 493 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 $54,380, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $43,730 at the bottom tenth to $69,850 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 $44,219.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Three of them are federal and one is not. After income tax, Social Security, Medicare and Indiana's own levy, $40,762 remains.
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 49 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 Indiana is $54,380. 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 ($43,730 to $69,850) 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 $44,219 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 $40,762 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.
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 49 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.