Engineering Technologists and Technicians, Except Drafters, All Other in Idaho
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$52,409
after federal, FICA and Idaho tax
Tax takes
$13,381
20.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$57,324
Idaho costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Idaho — 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
$65,790
Kept after tax
$52,409
Worth in national money
$57,324
State rank
40
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Idaho is among the lower-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $65,790, ranking 40 of 49 states — about 16.03% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 145 among 476 occupations Idaho publishes pay for.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $65,790 you keep $52,409 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $57,324 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $68,540, since top earners drag the number up.
- Idaho ranks 40 of 49 for engineering technologists and technicians, except drafters, all other, with a median of $65,790 — about 16.03% below the national figure. A nominal shortfall is not by itself a real one: lower-paying states frequently carry lower tax and lower price levels, and the adjusted figures below are where that is settled rather than assumed.
- Position 145 of 476 in Idaho places engineering technologists and technicians, except drafters, all other 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 Idaho is $52,409 after the full tax stack, from $65,790. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $57,324 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $68,540 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Engineering Technologists and Technicians, Except Drafters, All Other
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $47,420 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $65,790 |
| Top tenth earn over | $86,260 |
| This salary | $65,790 |
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 Idaho | $52,409 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $55,042 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$682 |
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 | $62,512 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$841 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 91 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Idaho earn less than $65,790. The published range is $47,420 up to $86,260, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Idaho's $52,409, worked from $65,790. That is on purpose. It lets states be compared with each other, not with each other's family circumstances. Local city taxes are left out. Locally this work ranks 145 of 476.
- One number stands for prices across all of Idaho, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $57,324, the adjusted value of that $65,790 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 145 of 476 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for engineering technologists and technicians, except drafters, all other in Idaho the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $47,420 to $86,260. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The Idaho take-home of $52,409, on $65,790 for work ranking 145 of 476 locally, models the simplest household deliberately: holding it constant is what makes the interstate comparison meaningful. It also means the absolute figure overstates liability for most real filers, and municipal income taxes are outside the model entirely. The occupation ranks 145 of 476 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Idaho, so $57,324 — the adjusted value of that $65,790 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 145 of 476 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
Half earn more than this and half earn less. The average sits at $68,540 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $47,420 at the tenth percentile, $86,260 at the ninetieth.
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 $57,324.
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 Idaho's own levy, $52,409 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 49 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release one.
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 Idaho is $68,540. 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 ($47,420 to $86,260) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Idaho rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Idaho'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 $57,324 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 $52,409 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Idaho 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.