Electrical Engineers in North Carolina
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$82,421
after federal, FICA and North Carolina tax
Tax takes
$27,709
25.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$87,552
North Carolina costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in North Carolina — 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
$110,130
Kept after tax
$82,421
Worth in national money
$87,552
State rank
26
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. North Carolina is 26 of 49 states for electrical engineers, with a middle wage of $110,130. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- Locally, this pays well. Among 489 occupations North Carolina reports, electrical engineers comes in at 40 — comfortably in the upper quarter.
- North Carolina is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $110,130 the take-home is $82,421; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $87,552 would nationally. The average comes to $121,380, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- North Carolina ranks 26 of 49 for electrical engineers at $110,130. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- Electrical engineers ranks 40 of 489 occupations by median in North Carolina, in the top quartile. Within-state position is largely independent of national position, so this holds regardless of how the state compares to others for the same work.
- Post-tax income for electrical engineers in North Carolina, on $110,130, is $82,421 — equivalent to $87,552 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 $121,380 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
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Pay band: Electrical Engineers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $66,800 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $110,130 |
| Top tenth earn over | $203,490 |
| This salary | $110,130 |
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 Carolina | $82,421 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $86,306 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$1,263 |
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 | $104,607 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$1,745 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 94 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in North Carolina earn less than $110,130. The published range is $66,800 up to $203,490, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- In North Carolina the take-home figure of $82,421, from $110,130, 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 40 of 489 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $87,552, the adjusted value of that $110,130 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of North Carolina. 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 40 of 489 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for electrical engineers in North Carolina the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $66,800 to $203,490. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Take-home for North Carolina is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $82,421 from $110,130. 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 40 of 489 locally.
- This $87,552 adjusted figure, worked from $110,130, 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 40 of 489 in the state. The occupation ranks 40 of 489 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 $121,380, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
The label is broader than the work. From $66,800 at the bottom tenth to $203,490 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in North Carolina sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $87,552 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 Carolina's own levy, $82,421 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 North Carolina is $121,380. 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 drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($66,800) and the ninetieth ($203,490) 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?
North Carolina'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 $87,552 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 $82,421 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and North Carolina 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.