Materials Engineers in Nebraska

A pale wooden scale model and metal measuring tools on an engineering workbench.

May 2025 wages · tax year 2026

You keep

$74,195

after federal, FICA and Nebraska tax

Tax takes

$24,075

24.5% of the whole

Worth, in national money

$82,096

Nebraska costs less than average

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

$98,270

Kept after tax

$74,195

Worth in national money

$82,096

State rank

35

of 45 states

What this pays, and what it is worth

  • Pay for materials engineers is on the low side in Nebraska. The middle earner gets $98,270. That is 35 of 45 states, and about 12.93% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
  • Within Nebraska this is well-paid work. Of 488 occupations with published figures in the state, materials engineers ranks 48 — in the top quarter of everything people do there.
  • Nebraska is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $98,270 the take-home is $74,195; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $82,096 would nationally. The average comes to $100,320, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
  • For materials engineers, Nebraska sits in the lower band at $98,270, ranking 35 of 45 and trailing the national median by about 12.93%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
  • Ranked against every occupation Nebraska publishes a median for, materials engineers sits 48 of 488 — the upper quartile of the state's wage distribution. National standing and within-state standing are separate questions, and a job can occupy very different positions on each.
  • Post-tax income for materials engineers in Nebraska, on $98,270, is $74,195 — equivalent to $82,096 once regional price parity is applied. ⚠️ The adjustment uses a statewide index that describes no particular address; within-state price variation, concentrated in housing, routinely exceeds the difference between two states. At $100,320 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.

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Pay band: Materials Engineers

The state median for this job

50thpercentile, roughly
Lowest tenth earn under$57,030
Half earn under$98,270
Top tenth earn over$135,400
This salary$98,270

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

Compare with
+$3,768take-home per year in Texas
Take-home in Nebraska$74,195
Take-home in Texas$77,963
Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity−$1,867

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

Moving to
$0$100,849
$100,849in Texas, for the same life
To match take-home only$92,914
Raise you would need+$2,579
Prices in Texas97 vs 90

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 materials engineers in Nebraska earn under $98,270 and half over. The published range runs $57,030 at the tenth percentile to $135,400 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
  • In Nebraska the take-home figure of $74,195, from $98,270, assumes one filer, no dependants, and nothing paid into a pension before tax. Each of those lowers the bill, so treat it as the plain case. City and school-district income taxes are not included either, and in a few states those are real money. It ranks 48 of 488 occupations here.
  • Two cautions on $82,096, the adjusted value of that $98,270 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Nebraska. No actual address matches that. The wage figures and price figures are also from different years. Each is published on its own timetable. This work sits at 48 of 488 locally.
  • Figures are distribution medians for materials engineers in Nebraska, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $57,030 to $135,400; 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.
  • Take-home for Nebraska is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $74,195 from $98,270. Each omitted item reduces taxable income, so the figure is a lower bound on retained pay for this household shape. Municipal and school-district income taxes are excluded, which understates the burden materially in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The occupation ranks 48 of 488 locally.
  • This $82,096 adjusted figure, worked from $98,270, rests on a state-level price parity averaging over within-state dispersion larger than much of the between-state dispersion. Wage and price vintages differ by publication schedule. The result is directionally sound and not address-specific, for work at 48 of 488 in the state. The occupation ranks 48 of 488 locally.

Questions people ask

Why is the pay range for this job so wide?

Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $57,030 and the top tenth $135,400 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.

What does this pay actually buy where I live?

More than the figure suggests. Prices in Nebraska sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $82,096 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.

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 Nebraska's own levy, $74,195 remains.

Why is this job missing from some states?

A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 45 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release one.

What drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?

Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($57,030) and the ninetieth ($135,400) 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?

Nebraska'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 $82,096 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 $74,195 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Nebraska 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 45 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.