Helpers--Pipelayers, Plumbers, Pipefitters, and Steamfitters in Oklahoma

A hard hat, safety glasses and tool belt beside timber house framing.

May 2025 wages · tax year 2026

You keep

$33,081

after federal, FICA and Oklahoma tax

Tax takes

$6,999

17.5% of the whole

Worth, in national money

$37,470

Oklahoma 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

$40,080

Kept after tax

$33,081

Worth in national money

$37,470

State rank

32

of 48 states

What this pays, and what it is worth

  • Middling, nationally. Oklahoma pays this job around $40,080 at the midpoint, 32 of 48 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
  • Middle of the local pack. Of 492 occupations Oklahoma reports figures for, this is number 365.
  • Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $40,080 you keep $33,081 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $37,470 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $42,390, since top earners drag the number up.
  • For helpers--pipelayers, plumbers, pipefitters, and steamfitters the Oklahoma median is $40,080, ranking 32 of 48 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.
  • In Oklahoma's occupational distribution, helpers--pipelayers, plumbers, pipefitters, and steamfitters sits at 365 of 492 — neither quartile. This local position is what a resident compares against, and it is determined by the state's own labor market rather than by national patterns for this occupation.
  • Retained pay in Oklahoma is $33,081 after the full tax stack, from $40,080. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $37,470 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $42,390 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.

Compare this career across states

Choose your filing status and local taxes, compare pay, and keep a shortlist.Compare wage and personal-pay outcomes by state, with selected resident local taxes and saved career choices.

Pay band: Helpers--Pipelayers, Plumbers, Pipefitters, and Steamfitters

The state median for this job

50thpercentile, roughly
Lowest tenth earn under$31,730
Half earn under$40,080
Top tenth earn over$62,070
This salary$40,080

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
+$1,303take-home per year in Texas
Take-home in Oklahoma$33,081
Take-home in Texas$34,384
Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity−$2,087

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

Moving to
$0$42,604
$42,604in Texas, for the same life
To match take-home only$38,458
Raise you would need+$2,524
Prices in Texas97 vs 88

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

Sources and assumptions
  • Half the people doing this work in Oklahoma earn less than $40,080. The published range is $31,730 up to $62,070, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
  • That $33,081 take-home in Oklahoma comes from $40,080. 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 365 of 492.
  • Two cautions on $37,470, the adjusted value of that $40,080 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Oklahoma. 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 365 of 492 locally.
  • Reported values are medians; for helpers--pipelayers, plumbers, pipefitters, and steamfitters in Oklahoma the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $31,730 to $62,070. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
  • Retained pay of $33,081, from $40,080, assumes a single Oklahoma 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 365 of 492 locally, and the state ranks 32 of 48 for it.
  • This $37,470 adjusted figure, worked from $40,080, 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 365 of 492 in the state. The occupation ranks 365 of 492 locally.

Questions people ask

Is this the average pay for the job?

It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $42,390, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.

Why is the pay range for this job so wide?

The label is broader than the work. From $31,730 at the bottom tenth to $62,070 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.

What does this pay actually buy where I live?

Further than the number implies. Oklahoma is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $37,470 in national terms.

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 Oklahoma adds its own income tax on top — which is why $33,081 of this wage survives to your account.

Why is this job missing from some states?

Because the survey suppresses a figure when too few employers report it. This occupation has published pay in 48 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.

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 Oklahoma is $42,390. 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 ($31,730) and the ninetieth ($62,070) 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?

Oklahoma'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 $37,470 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 $33,081 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Oklahoma 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 48 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.