Industrial Truck and Tractor Operators in Indiana
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$37,543
after federal, FICA and Indiana tax
Tax takes
$8,107
17.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$40,726
Indiana costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Indiana — 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
$45,650
Kept after tax
$37,543
Worth in national money
$40,726
State rank
36
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Indiana pays this job a middle wage of $45,650, 36 of 51 states and about 1.66% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 361 among 493 occupations Indiana publishes pay for.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $45,650 you keep $37,543 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $40,726 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $47,600, since top earners drag the number up.
- Indiana's $45,650 median for industrial truck and tractor operators places it 36 of 51 states, about 1.66% 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.
- Position 361 of 493 in Indiana places industrial truck and tractor operators 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.
- Retained pay in Indiana is $37,543 after the full tax stack, from $45,650. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $40,726 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $47,600 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: Industrial Truck and Tractor Operators
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $37,250 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $45,650 |
| Top tenth earn over | $61,630 |
| This salary | $45,650 |
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 Indiana | $37,543 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $38,860 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$736 |
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
| To match take-home only | $44,011 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$890 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 92 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- A median is the middle, not an offer. Half of industrial truck and tractor operators in Indiana earn under $45,650 and half over. The published range runs $37,250 at the tenth percentile to $61,630 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $37,543 take-home in Indiana comes from $45,650. 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 361 of 493.
- One number stands for prices across all of Indiana, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $40,726, the adjusted value of that $45,650 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 361 of 493 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for industrial truck and tractor operators in Indiana, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $37,250 to $61,630; within-state dispersion of that width routinely exceeds the dispersion between states, so tenure, employer and metropolitan area predict an individual's pay better than geography does.
- Retained pay of $37,543, from $45,650, assumes a single Indiana 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 361 of 493 locally, and the state ranks 36 of 51 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Indiana, so $40,726 — the adjusted value of that $45,650 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 361 of 493 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $47,600, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $37,250 at the bottom tenth to $61,630 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
A smaller wage in a cheaper place is not automatically less. Adjusted for local prices, this is worth $40,726.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Three of them are federal and one is not. After income tax, Social Security, Medicare and Indiana's own levy, $37,543 remains.
Can I compare this job across every state?
Yes for this one. Pay is published in all 51 jurisdictions, so a state-to-state comparison here rests on the same survey everywhere rather than on a patchwork.
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 Indiana is $47,600. 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 ($37,250 to $61,630) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Indiana rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Indiana'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 $40,726 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 $37,543 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Indiana 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.