Industrial Engineers in North Carolina
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$75,241
after federal, FICA and North Carolina tax
Tax takes
$24,069
24.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$79,925
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
$99,310
Kept after tax
$75,241
Worth in national money
$79,925
State rank
39
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. North Carolina pays industrial engineers a middle wage of $99,310, 39 of 51 states and about 3.06% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Locally, this pays well. Among 489 occupations North Carolina reports, industrial engineers comes in at 64 — comfortably in the upper quarter.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $99,310 you keep $75,241 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $79,925 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $102,890, since top earners drag the number up.
- North Carolina's $99,310 median for industrial engineers places it 39 of 51 states, about 3.06% 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.
- Industrial engineers ranks 64 of 489 occupations by median in North Carolina, in the top quartile. Within-state position is largely independent of national position, so this holds regardless of how the state compares to others for the same work.
- Retained pay in North Carolina is $75,241 after the full tax stack, from $99,310. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $79,925 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $102,890 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Industrial Engineers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $68,930 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $99,310 |
| Top tenth earn over | $139,110 |
| This salary | $99,310 |
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 | $75,241 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $78,695 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$1,057 |
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 | $94,401 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$1,460 |
| 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 $99,310. The published range is $68,930 up to $139,110, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $75,241 take-home in North Carolina comes from $99,310. 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 64 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 $79,925, the adjusted value of that $99,310 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 64 of 489 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for industrial engineers in North Carolina the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $68,930 to $139,110. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $75,241, from $99,310, 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 64 of 489 locally, and the state ranks 39 of 51 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for North Carolina, so $79,925 — the adjusted value of that $99,310 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 64 of 489 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $102,890, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $68,930 and the top tenth $139,110, so most people doing this work in North Carolina sit within a fairly tight band.
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 $79,925 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 $75,241 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 North Carolina is $102,890. 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 ($68,930 to $139,110) 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 $79,925 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 $75,241 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.
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.