Light Truck Drivers in Ohio
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$35,954
after federal, FICA and Ohio tax
Tax takes
$6,646
15.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$39,160
Ohio costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Ohio — 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
$42,600
Kept after tax
$35,954
Worth in national money
$39,160
State rank
39
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Ohio pays light truck drivers a middle wage of $42,600, 39 of 51 states and about 5.04% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Within Ohio this is lower-paid work. Of 494 occupations the state publishes figures for, light truck drivers ranks 390. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Here is where Ohio does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $42,600 you keep $35,954, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $39,160 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $44,230, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Ohio's $42,600 median for light truck drivers places it 39 of 51 states, about 5.04% 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.
- Against every occupation Ohio reports, light truck drivers ranks 390 of 494, in the lowest quartile of the state's distribution. That position is set by the local labor market and is independent of how the state compares nationally for this work.
- After federal, FICA and Ohio income tax, retained pay for light truck drivers on $42,600 is $35,954. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $39,160 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 $44,230 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Light Truck Drivers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $27,460 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $42,600 |
| Top tenth earn over | $63,740 |
| This salary | $42,600 |
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 Ohio | $35,954 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $36,409 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,693 |
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 | $42,034 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,047 |
| 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 light truck drivers in Ohio earn under $42,600 and half over. The published range runs $27,460 at the tenth percentile to $63,740 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Ohio's $35,954, worked from $42,600. 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 390 of 494.
- One number stands for prices across all of Ohio, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $39,160, the adjusted value of that $42,600 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 390 of 494 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for light truck drivers in Ohio, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $27,460 to $63,740; 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.
- The Ohio take-home of $35,954, on $42,600 for work ranking 390 of 494 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 390 of 494 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Ohio, so $39,160 — the adjusted value of that $42,600 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 390 of 494 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $44,230, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
The label is broader than the work. From $27,460 at the bottom tenth to $63,740 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
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 $39,160.
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 Ohio adds its own income tax on top — which is why $35,954 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 Ohio is $44,230. 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 ($27,460) and the ninetieth ($63,740) 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?
Ohio'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 $39,160 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 $35,954 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Ohio 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.