Insulation Workers, Floor, Ceiling, and Wall in Wisconsin
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$40,382
after federal, FICA and Wisconsin tax
Tax takes
$9,138
18.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$43,376
Wisconsin costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Wisconsin — 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
$49,520
Kept after tax
$40,382
Worth in national money
$43,376
State rank
22
of 48 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Wisconsin pays this job around $49,520 at the midpoint, 22 of 48 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Against other work in Wisconsin, this sits in the middle: 320 of 491 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Here is where Wisconsin does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $49,520 you keep $40,382, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $43,376 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $52,450, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For insulation workers, floor, ceiling, and wall the Wisconsin median is $49,520, ranking 22 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.
- Insulation workers, floor, ceiling, and wall ranks 320 of 491 occupations in Wisconsin 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.
- After federal, FICA and Wisconsin income tax, retained pay for insulation workers, floor, ceiling, and wall on $49,520 is $40,382. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $43,376 in national-average terms. ⚠️ That figure is purchasing power, not a wage, and nobody is paid it; it is what the take-home buys. The mean of $52,450 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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: Insulation Workers, Floor, Ceiling, and Wall
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $39,980 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $49,520 |
| Top tenth earn over | $64,160 |
| This salary | $49,520 |
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 Wisconsin | $40,382 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $41,969 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$186 |
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 | $47,544 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$225 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 93 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Wisconsin earn less than $49,520. The published range is $39,980 up to $64,160, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $40,382 take-home in Wisconsin comes from $49,520. 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 320 of 491.
- One number stands for prices across all of Wisconsin, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $43,376, the adjusted value of that $49,520 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 320 of 491 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for insulation workers, floor, ceiling, and wall in Wisconsin the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $39,980 to $64,160. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $40,382, from $49,520, assumes a single Wisconsin 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 320 of 491 locally, and the state ranks 22 of 48 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Wisconsin, so $43,376 — the adjusted value of that $49,520 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 320 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $52,450, 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 $39,980 and the top tenth $64,160, so most people doing this work in Wisconsin sit within a fairly tight band.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in Wisconsin sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $43,376 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 Wisconsin adds its own income tax on top — which is why $40,382 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 48 states here, and a missing state means too few reports, not no jobs.
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 Wisconsin is $52,450. 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 ($39,980 to $64,160) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Wisconsin rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Wisconsin'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 $43,376 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 $40,382 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Wisconsin 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.