Drywall and Ceiling Tile Installers in North Dakota
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$38,426
after federal, FICA and North Dakota tax
Tax takes
$6,684
14.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$43,384
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
$45,110
Kept after tax
$38,426
Worth in national money
$43,384
State rank
43
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for drywall and ceiling tile installers is on the low side in North Dakota. The middle earner gets $45,110. That is 43 of 49 states, and about 23.45% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Against 460 occupations North Dakota publishes, drywall and ceiling tile installers lands at 369. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- North Dakota is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $45,110 the take-home is $38,426; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $43,384 would nationally. The average comes to $46,870, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For drywall and ceiling tile installers, North Dakota sits in the lower band at $45,110, ranking 43 of 49 and trailing the national median by about 23.45%. 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, this work ranks 369 of 460 occupations by median pay, in the bottom quartile. The within-state position is the more salient one for anyone weighing this job against alternatives available to them locally.
- Post-tax income for drywall and ceiling tile installers in North Dakota, on $45,110, is $38,426 — equivalent to $43,384 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 $46,870 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
Choose your filing status and local taxes, compare pay, and keep a shortlist.Compare wage and personal-pay outcomes by state, with selected resident local taxes and saved career choices.
Pay band: Drywall and Ceiling Tile Installers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $37,340 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $45,110 |
| Top tenth earn over | $57,510 |
| This salary | $45,110 |
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 | $38,426 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $38,426 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$3,841 |
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 | $45,110 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$4,645 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 89 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $45,110 as a midpoint for North Dakota, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $37,340 and the ninetieth is $57,510 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $38,426 take-home in North Dakota comes from $45,110. 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 369 of 460.
- Two cautions on $43,384, the adjusted value of that $45,110 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 369 of 460 locally.
- The North Dakota median of $45,110 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $37,340 to $57,510. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Retained pay of $38,426, from $45,110, 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 369 of 460 locally, and the state ranks 43 of 49 for it.
- This $43,384 adjusted figure, worked from $45,110, 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 369 of 460 in the state. The occupation ranks 369 of 460 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 $46,870, 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?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $37,340 and the top tenth $57,510, so most people doing this work in North Dakota sit within a fairly tight band.
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 $43,384 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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 North Dakota's own levy, $38,426 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 49 states here, and a missing state means too few reports, not no jobs.
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 $46,870. 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 ($37,340 to $57,510) 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 $43,384 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 $38,426 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 49 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.