Mechanical Drafters in Georgia
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$53,004
after federal, FICA and Georgia tax
Tax takes
$13,666
20.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$54,814
Georgia costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Georgia — 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
$66,670
Kept after tax
$53,004
Worth in national money
$54,814
State rank
26
of 47 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Georgia pays mechanical drafters around $66,670 at the midpoint, 26 of 47 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 492 occupations Georgia reports figures for, this is number 175.
- Georgia is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $66,670 the take-home is $53,004; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $54,814 would nationally. The average comes to $74,150, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For mechanical drafters the Georgia median is $66,670, ranking 26 of 47 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.
- In Georgia's occupational distribution, mechanical drafters sits at 175 of 492 — neither quartile. This local position is what a resident compares against, and it is determined by the state's own labor market rather than by national patterns for this occupation.
- Post-tax income for mechanical drafters in Georgia, on $66,670, is $53,004 — equivalent to $54,814 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 $74,150 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
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: Mechanical Drafters
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $49,920 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $66,670 |
| Top tenth earn over | $107,140 |
| This salary | $66,670 |
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 Georgia | $53,004 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $55,732 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$2,539 |
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 | $63,254 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$3,092 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 97 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $66,670 as a midpoint for Georgia, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $49,920 and the ninetieth is $107,140 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $53,004 take-home in Georgia comes from $66,670. 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 175 of 492.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $54,814 uses one figure for the whole of Georgia. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 492 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 175.
- The Georgia median of $66,670 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $49,920 to $107,140. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Retained pay of $53,004, from $66,670, assumes a single Georgia 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 175 of 492 locally, and the state ranks 26 of 47 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $54,814, worked from $66,670, deflates by a statewide parity that conceals substantial intra-state variation, concentrated in housing — so it supports comparison between states rather than the pricing of a move to a particular Georgia address, on work sitting at 175 of 492 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
Half earn more than this and half earn less. The average sits at $74,150 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
The label is broader than the work. From $49,920 at the bottom tenth to $107,140 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Georgia is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $54,814 in national terms.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Four deductions, stacked. The federal layer and the two payroll taxes apply wherever you work; Georgia then takes its own share, leaving $53,004.
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 Georgia is $74,150. 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 ($49,920) and the ninetieth ($107,140) 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?
Georgia'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 $54,814 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 $53,004 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Georgia 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.