Highway Maintenance Workers in North Dakota

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

May 2025 wages · tax year 2026

You keep

$50,896

after federal, FICA and North Dakota tax

Tax takes

$9,734

16.1% of the whole

Worth, in national money

$57,463

North Dakota 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

$60,630

Kept after tax

$50,896

Worth in national money

$57,463

State rank

8

of 49 states

What this pays, and what it is worth

  • This is a good state for the work. North Dakota pays highway maintenance workers a middle wage of $60,630, ranking 8 of 49 states and sitting about 20.63% above the national middle.
  • Ordinary, locally speaking. Highway maintenance workers ranks 226 among 460 occupations North Dakota publishes pay for.
  • North Dakota is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $60,630 the take-home is $50,896; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $57,463 would nationally. The average comes to $62,150, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
  • North Dakota's median for highway maintenance workers is $60,630, about 20.63% above the national figure and 8 of 49 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 226 of 460 in North Dakota places highway maintenance workers 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.
  • Post-tax income for highway maintenance workers in North Dakota, on $60,630, is $50,896 — equivalent to $57,463 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 $62,150 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.

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Pay band: Highway Maintenance Workers

The state median for this job

50thpercentile, roughly
Lowest tenth earn under$47,400
Half earn under$60,630
Top tenth earn over$78,510
This salary$60,630

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
$0take-home per year in Texas
Take-home in North Dakota$50,896
Take-home in Texas$50,896
Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity−$5,087

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$66,823
$66,823in Texas, for the same life
To match take-home only$60,630
Raise you would need+$6,193
Prices in Texas97 vs 89

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

Sources and assumptions
  • Treat $60,630 as a midpoint for North Dakota, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $47,400 and the ninetieth is $78,510 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
  • That $50,896 take-home in North Dakota comes from $60,630. 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 226 of 460.
  • Two cautions on $57,463, the adjusted value of that $60,630 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of North Dakota. 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 226 of 460 locally.
  • The North Dakota median of $60,630 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $47,400 to $78,510. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
  • Retained pay of $50,896, from $60,630, assumes a single North Dakota 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 226 of 460 locally, and the state ranks 8 of 49 for it.
  • This $57,463 adjusted figure, worked from $60,630, 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 226 of 460 in the state. The occupation ranks 226 of 460 locally.

Questions people ask

How much does pay for this job actually vary?

The range here is narrow. From $47,400 at the bottom tenth to $78,510 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.

What does this pay actually buy where I live?

More than the figure suggests. Prices in North Dakota sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $57,463 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.

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; North Dakota then takes its own share, leaving $50,896.

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 49 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.

What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?

The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($47,400 to $78,510) 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 Dakota rather than a national figure.

What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?

North Dakota'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 $57,463 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 $50,896 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and North Dakota 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.