Drywall and Ceiling Tile Installers in Utah
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$40,904
after federal, FICA and Utah tax
Tax takes
$10,116
19.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$43,056
Utah costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Utah — 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
$51,020
Kept after tax
$40,904
Worth in national money
$43,056
State rank
28
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Utah pays drywall and ceiling tile installers around $51,020 at the midpoint, 28 of 49 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. Drywall and ceiling tile installers ranks 293 among 487 occupations Utah publishes pay for.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $51,020 you keep $40,904 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $43,056 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $52,720, since top earners drag the number up.
- For drywall and ceiling tile installers the Utah median is $51,020, ranking 28 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.
- Position 293 of 487 in Utah places drywall and ceiling tile installers 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.
- Retained pay in Utah is $40,904 after the full tax stack, from $51,020. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $43,056 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $52,720 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 | $37,160 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $51,020 |
| Top tenth earn over | $68,920 |
| This salary | $51,020 |
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 Utah | $40,904 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $43,175 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$1,374 |
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 | $48,194 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$1,661 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 95 |
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 Utah earn under $51,020 and half over. The published range runs $37,160 at the tenth percentile to $68,920 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $40,904 take-home in Utah comes from $51,020. 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 293 of 487.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $43,056 uses one figure for the whole of Utah. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 487 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 293.
- Figures are distribution medians for drywall and ceiling tile installers in Utah, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $37,160 to $68,920; 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 $40,904, from $51,020, assumes a single Utah 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 293 of 487 locally, and the state ranks 28 of 49 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $43,056, worked from $51,020, 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 Utah address, on work sitting at 293 of 487 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 $52,720, 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?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $37,160 at the tenth percentile, $68,920 at the ninetieth.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in Utah sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $43,056 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Four deductions, stacked. The federal layer and the two payroll taxes apply wherever you work; Utah then takes its own share, leaving $40,904.
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 Utah is $52,720. 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 ($37,160 to $68,920) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Utah rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Utah'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 $43,056 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 $40,904 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Utah 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.