Drywall and Ceiling Tile Installers in Wisconsin
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$48,260
after federal, FICA and Wisconsin tax
Tax takes
$11,710
19.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$51,839
Wisconsin costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Wisconsin — 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
$59,970
Kept after tax
$48,260
Worth in national money
$51,839
State rank
19
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Wisconsin pays drywall and ceiling tile installers around $59,970 at the midpoint, 19 of 49 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. Drywall and ceiling tile installers ranks 250 among 491 occupations Wisconsin publishes pay for.
- Here is where Wisconsin does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $59,970 you keep $48,260, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $51,839 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $60,020, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For drywall and ceiling tile installers the Wisconsin median is $59,970, ranking 19 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 250 of 491 in Wisconsin 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.
- After federal, FICA and Wisconsin income tax, retained pay for drywall and ceiling tile installers on $59,970 is $48,260. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $51,839 in national-average terms. ⚠️ That figure is purchasing power, not a wage, and nobody is paid it; it is what the take-home buys. The mean of $60,020 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Drywall and Ceiling Tile Installers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $38,490 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $59,970 |
| Top tenth earn over | $85,340 |
| This salary | $59,970 |
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 Wisconsin | $48,260 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $50,366 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$9 |
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 | $57,350 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$11 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 93 |
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 Wisconsin earn under $59,970 and half over. The published range runs $38,490 at the tenth percentile to $85,340 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $48,260 take-home in Wisconsin comes from $59,970. 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 250 of 491.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $51,839 uses one figure for the whole of Wisconsin. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 491 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 250.
- Figures are distribution medians for drywall and ceiling tile installers in Wisconsin, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $38,490 to $85,340; 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 $48,260, from $59,970, assumes a single Wisconsin 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 250 of 491 locally, and the state ranks 19 of 49 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $51,839, worked from $59,970, 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 Wisconsin address, on work sitting at 250 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $38,490 and the top tenth $85,340 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
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 $51,839.
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 Wisconsin's own levy, $48,260 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.
What drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($38,490) and the ninetieth ($85,340) exceeds the family median dispersion. SOC codes aggregate roles differing in seniority, industry and specialisation, and BLS does not disaggregate below the detailed occupation level, so within-title variance is not separable from the published series.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Wisconsin'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 $51,839 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 $48,260 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Wisconsin 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.