Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers in Indiana
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$48,874
after federal, FICA and Indiana tax
Tax takes
$11,416
18.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$53,018
Indiana costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Indiana — 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
$60,290
Kept after tax
$48,874
Worth in national money
$53,018
State rank
17
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is strong here. Indiana's middle earner gets $60,290, putting the state 17 of 51 — about 2.81% ahead of the national figure.
- Against other work in Indiana, this sits in the middle: 215 of 493 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 $60,290 you keep $48,874 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $53,018 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $60,950, since top earners drag the number up.
- For heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers, Indiana sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $60,290, ranking 17 of 51 and running about 2.81% above the national midpoint. Nominal advantage of this size is usually, though not always, large enough to survive the state's own tax and price levels.
- Heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers ranks 215 of 493 occupations in Indiana 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 Indiana is $48,874 after the full tax stack, from $60,290. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $53,018 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $60,950 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $42,060 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $60,290 |
| Top tenth earn over | $79,000 |
| This salary | $60,290 |
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 Indiana | $48,874 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $50,623 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$923 |
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 | $58,113 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,116 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 92 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $60,290 as a midpoint for Indiana, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $42,060 and the ninetieth is $79,000 — 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 Indiana's $48,874, worked from $60,290. 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 215 of 493.
- Two cautions on $53,018, the adjusted value of that $60,290 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Indiana. 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 215 of 493 locally.
- The Indiana median of $60,290 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $42,060 to $79,000. 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 Indiana take-home of $48,874, on $60,290 for work ranking 215 of 493 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 215 of 493 in the state.
- This $53,018 adjusted figure, worked from $60,290, 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 215 of 493 in the state. The occupation ranks 215 of 493 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $42,060 at the bottom tenth to $79,000 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Indiana is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $53,018 in national terms.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Four deductions, stacked. The federal layer and the two payroll taxes apply wherever you work; Indiana then takes its own share, leaving $48,874.
Can I compare this job across every state?
All 51 jurisdictions report this work, which makes the ranking a like-for-like one.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($42,060 to $79,000) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Indiana rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Indiana'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 $53,018 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 $48,874 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Indiana 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.