Jewelers and Precious Stone and Metal Workers in North Dakota
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$47,996
after federal, FICA and North Dakota tax
Tax takes
$9,024
15.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$54,188
North Dakota costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in North Dakota — 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
$57,020
Kept after tax
$47,996
Worth in national money
$54,188
State rank
11
of 47 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. North Dakota pays this job a middle wage of $57,020, ranking 11 of 47 states and sitting about 8.53% above the national middle.
- Against other work in North Dakota, this sits in the middle: 271 of 460 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $57,020 you keep $47,996 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $54,188 at national prices. Here the average runs under the middle, at $53,550.
- North Dakota's median for jewelers and precious stone and metal workers is $57,020, about 8.53% above the national figure and 11 of 47 states reporting. Whether that premium reaches the worker depends on the two adjustments below, which is the part a wage table cannot tell you.
- Jewelers and precious stone and metal workers ranks 271 of 460 occupations in North Dakota 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.
- Retained pay in North Dakota is $47,996 after the full tax stack, from $57,020. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $54,188 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $53,550 sits under the median, so the lower tail is the longer one.
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Pay band: Jewelers and Precious Stone and Metal Workers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $38,980 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $57,020 |
| Top tenth earn over | $82,020 |
| This salary | $57,020 |
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 Dakota | $47,996 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $47,996 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$4,797 |
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 | $57,020 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$5,802 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 89 |
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 Dakota earn less than $57,020. The published range is $38,980 up to $82,020, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind North Dakota's $47,996, worked from $57,020. That is on purpose. It lets states be compared with each other, not with each other's family circumstances. Local city taxes are left out. Locally this work ranks 271 of 460.
- One number stands for prices across all of North Dakota, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $54,188, the adjusted value of that $57,020 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 271 of 460 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for jewelers and precious stone and metal workers in North Dakota the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $38,980 to $82,020. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The North Dakota take-home of $47,996, on $57,020 for work ranking 271 of 460 locally, models the simplest household deliberately: holding it constant is what makes the interstate comparison meaningful. It also means the absolute figure overstates liability for most real filers, and municipal income taxes are outside the model entirely. The occupation ranks 271 of 460 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for North Dakota, so $54,188 — the adjusted value of that $57,020 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 271 of 460 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
No — it is the middle. Half of these workers earn more and half earn less. The average is $53,550, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $38,980 and the top tenth $82,020 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. North Dakota is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $54,188 in national terms.
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 North Dakota's own levy, $47,996 remains.
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 47 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
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 Dakota is $53,550. 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 drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($38,980) and the ninetieth ($82,020) exceeds the family median dispersion. SOC codes aggregate roles differing in seniority, industry and specialisation, and BLS does not disaggregate below the detailed occupation level, so within-title variance is not separable from the published series.
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 $54,188 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 $47,996 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 47 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.