Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers in New York
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$49,283
after federal, FICA and New York tax
Tax takes
$12,767
20.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$45,791
New York costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in New York — 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
$62,050
Kept after tax
$49,283
Worth in national money
$45,791
State rank
7
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. New York pays this job a middle wage of $62,050, ranking 7 of 51 states and sitting about 5.82% above the national middle.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 276 among 493 occupations New York publishes pay for.
- New York is an expensive state, and the adjusted figure shows it. From $62,050 the take-home is $49,283; in national-average money that behaves like $45,791. The average comes to $65,780, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- New York's median for heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers is $62,050, about 5.82% above the national figure and 7 of 51 states reporting. Whether that premium reaches the worker depends on the two adjustments below, which is the part a wage table cannot tell you.
- Position 276 of 493 in New York places heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers 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.
- Take-home for heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers in New York, on $62,050, is $49,283; deflated by the state's price level, $45,791. ⚠️ The deflator is statewide, so it understates the erosion in the state's metropolitan areas and overstates it outside them. At $65,780 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $47,880 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $62,050 |
| Top tenth earn over | $88,100 |
| This salary | $62,050 |
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 New York | $49,283 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $52,037 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$7,759 |
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 | $58,623 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$9,383 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 108 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in New York earn less than $62,050. The published range is $47,880 up to $88,100, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $49,283 take-home in New York comes from $62,050. It is the no-frills case: single filer, standard deduction, nothing set aside before tax. Real circumstances almost always reduce the tax. City and school-district taxes are not counted at all. Locally the work ranks 276 of 493.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $45,791 uses one figure for the whole of New York. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 493 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 276.
- Reported values are medians; for heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers in New York the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $47,880 to $88,100. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $49,283, from $62,050, assumes a single New York filer with the standard deduction and no elective deferrals. Pre-tax retirement or HSA contributions, dependants and itemized deductions all reduce it further; local income taxes, excluded here, would increase it in the states that levy them. This occupation ranks 276 of 493 locally, and the state ranks 7 of 51 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $45,791, worked from $62,050, deflates by a statewide parity that conceals substantial intra-state variation, concentrated in housing — so it supports comparison between states rather than the pricing of a move to a particular New York address, on work sitting at 276 of 493 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 $65,780 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 — $47,880 at the tenth percentile, $88,100 at the ninetieth.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
The number and the value are different things. New York costs more than the national average, so this take-home stretches like $45,791 rather than its face figure.
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 New York adds its own income tax on top — which is why $49,283 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 New York is $65,780. 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 ($47,880 to $88,100) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to New York rather than a national figure.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
New York's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $45,791 in national-average terms. ⚠️ RPPs are an all-items index; housing parities vary far more widely than the headline figure.
What accounts for the gap between gross wage and take-home here?
Take-home of $49,283 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and New York 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.