Highway Maintenance Workers in North Carolina
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$39,250
after federal, FICA and North Carolina tax
Tax takes
$8,630
18.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$41,694
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
$47,880
Kept after tax
$39,250
Worth in national money
$41,694
State rank
33
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. North Carolina pays highway maintenance workers a middle wage of $47,880, 33 of 49 states and about 4.74% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Against other work in North Carolina, this sits in the middle: 312 of 489 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- North Carolina is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $47,880 the take-home is $39,250; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $41,694 would nationally. The average lands at $47,300, below the middle of the range.
- North Carolina's $47,880 median for highway maintenance workers places it 33 of 49 states, about 4.74% below national. Because both the tax and price adjustments tend to favor lower-nominal states, this ranking is the least stable of the three reported here.
- Highway maintenance workers ranks 312 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.
- Post-tax income for highway maintenance workers in North Carolina, on $47,880, is $39,250 — equivalent to $41,694 once regional price parity is applied. ⚠️ The adjustment uses a statewide index that describes no particular address; within-state price variation, concentrated in housing, routinely exceeds the difference between two states. At $47,300 the mean undershoots the median, an inversion of the usual skew.
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Pay band: Highway Maintenance Workers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $34,980 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $47,880 |
| Top tenth earn over | $58,870 |
| This salary | $47,880 |
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 | $39,250 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $40,652 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$140 |
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 | $46,136 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$169 |
| 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 $47,880. The published range is $34,980 up to $58,870, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $39,250 take-home in North Carolina comes from $47,880. 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 312 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 $41,694, the adjusted value of that $47,880 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 312 of 489 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for highway maintenance workers in North Carolina the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $34,980 to $58,870. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $39,250, from $47,880, assumes a single North Carolina 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 312 of 489 locally, and the state ranks 33 of 49 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for North Carolina, so $41,694 — the adjusted value of that $47,880 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 312 of 489 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $34,980 at the tenth percentile, $58,870 at the ninetieth.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in North Carolina sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $41,694 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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 $39,250 of this wage survives to your account.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 49 states here, and a missing state means too few reports, not no jobs.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($34,980 to $58,870) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to North Carolina rather than a national figure.
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 $41,694 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 $39,250 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.
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 49 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.