Graphic Designers in North Carolina
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$47,321
after federal, FICA and North Carolina tax
Tax takes
$11,129
19.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$50,267
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
$58,450
Kept after tax
$47,321
Worth in national money
$50,267
State rank
29
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. North Carolina pays graphic designers around $58,450 at the midpoint, 29 of 51 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Against other work in North Carolina, this sits in the middle: 223 of 489 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $58,450 you keep $47,321 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $50,267 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $63,250, since top earners drag the number up.
- For graphic designers the North Carolina median is $58,450, ranking 29 of 51 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.
- Graphic designers ranks 223 of 489 occupations in North Carolina by median pay, in the middle bands. Within-state and national positions are separate measurements and a job commonly sits in different quartiles on each.
- Retained pay in North Carolina is $47,321 after the full tax stack, from $58,450. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $50,267 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $63,250 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Graphic Designers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $37,680 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $58,450 |
| Top tenth earn over | $95,380 |
| This salary | $58,450 |
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 | $47,321 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $49,145 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$306 |
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 | $56,181 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$370 |
| 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 $58,450. The published range is $37,680 up to $95,380, 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 North Carolina's $47,321, worked from $58,450. 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 223 of 489.
- One number stands for prices across all of North Carolina, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $50,267, the adjusted value of that $58,450 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 223 of 489 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for graphic designers in North Carolina the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $37,680 to $95,380. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The North Carolina take-home of $47,321, on $58,450 for work ranking 223 of 489 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 223 of 489 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for North Carolina, so $50,267 — the adjusted value of that $58,450 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 223 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 $63,250, 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?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $37,680 and the top tenth $95,380 — 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 $50,267.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Into four separate taxes, not one. Federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare apply everywhere, and North Carolina adds its own income tax on top — which is why $47,321 of this wage survives to your account.
Can I compare this job across every state?
This occupation is published everywhere — all 51 of them — so comparing states measures real differences rather than gaps in the data.
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 $63,250. 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 ($37,680) and the ninetieth ($95,380) 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 $50,267 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 $47,321 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.
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.