Engineers, All Other in Wisconsin

A pale wooden scale model and metal measuring tools on an engineering workbench.

May 2025 wages · tax year 2026

You keep

$81,372

after federal, FICA and Wisconsin tax

Tax takes

$28,988

26.3% of the whole

Worth, in national money

$87,405

Wisconsin costs less than average

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

$110,360

Kept after tax

$81,372

Worth in national money

$87,405

State rank

34

of 51 states

What this pays, and what it is worth

  • Wisconsin sits in the middle of the pack for engineers, all other. The median is $110,360, ranking 34 of 51 states with figures. Close enough to the national middle that where you live matters more than the headline suggests.
  • This is one of the better-paid jobs in Wisconsin. It ranks 36 out of 491 occupations the state publishes figures for, which puts it in the top quarter locally.
  • Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $110,360 you keep $81,372 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $87,405 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $112,990, since top earners drag the number up.
  • Wisconsin occupies the middle band for engineers, all other: a median of $110,360, ranking 34 of 51. Where nominal pay is close to the national figure, the tax and price adjustments below carry proportionally more weight in determining the real outcome.
  • Within Wisconsin, engineers, all other ranks 36 of 491 occupations by median pay, placing it in the top quartile of the local distribution. This is the comparison a resident actually makes — against neighbors rather than against the same job elsewhere.
  • Retained pay in Wisconsin is $81,372 after the full tax stack, from $110,360. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $87,405 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $112,990 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.

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Pay band: Engineers, All Other

The state median for this job

50thpercentile, roughly
Lowest tenth earn under$74,810
Half earn under$110,360
Top tenth earn over$155,460
This salary$110,360

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

Compare with
+$5,097take-home per year in Texas
Take-home in Wisconsin$81,372
Take-home in Texas$86,468
Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity+$1,577

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

Moving to
$0now · $110,360$108,182
$108,182in Texas, for the same life
To match take-home only$103,115
You could take a cut of−$2,178
Prices in Texas97 vs 93

State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.

Sources and assumptions
  • Treat $110,360 as a midpoint for Wisconsin, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $74,810 and the ninetieth is $155,460 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
  • One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Wisconsin's $81,372, worked from $110,360. 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 36 of 491.
  • Two cautions on $87,405, the adjusted value of that $110,360 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Wisconsin. 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 36 of 491 locally.
  • The Wisconsin median of $110,360 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $74,810 to $155,460. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
  • The Wisconsin take-home of $81,372, on $110,360 for work ranking 36 of 491 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 36 of 491 in the state.
  • This $87,405 adjusted figure, worked from $110,360, 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 36 of 491 in the state. The occupation ranks 36 of 491 locally.

Questions people ask

Why is the pay range for this job so wide?

One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $74,810, the highest tenth $155,460, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.

What does this pay actually buy where I live?

Further than the number implies. Wisconsin is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $87,405 in national terms.

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, $81,372 remains.

Can I compare this job across every state?

Yes for this one. Pay is published in all 51 jurisdictions, so a state-to-state comparison here rests on the same survey everywhere rather than on a patchwork.

What drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?

Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($74,810) and the ninetieth ($155,460) 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 $87,405 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 $81,372 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.

Is this occupation's state coverage complete?

State-level estimates are published for all 51 jurisdictions for this occupation, so cross-state comparison is not confounded by suppression. ⚠️ Estimates remain survey-based and carry sampling error; small differences between adjacent states should not be over-read.