Mechanical Drafters in Idaho
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$47,350
after federal, FICA and Idaho tax
Tax takes
$11,700
19.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$51,791
Idaho costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Idaho — 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
$59,050
Kept after tax
$47,350
Worth in national money
$51,791
State rank
42
of 47 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Idaho pays mechanical drafters a middle wage of $59,050, 42 of 47 states and about 17.47% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. Mechanical drafters ranks 218 among 476 occupations Idaho publishes pay for.
- Here is where Idaho does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $59,050 you keep $47,350, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $51,791 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $68,050, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Idaho's $59,050 median for mechanical drafters places it 42 of 47 states, about 17.47% 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.
- Position 218 of 476 in Idaho places mechanical drafters in the middle of the state's wage distribution. Because within-state and cross-state rankings measure different things, this figure and the national one above should be read together rather than as a single verdict.
- After federal, FICA and Idaho income tax, retained pay for mechanical drafters on $59,050 is $47,350. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $51,791 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 $68,050 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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Pay band: Mechanical Drafters
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $46,190 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $59,050 |
| Top tenth earn over | $104,100 |
| This salary | $59,050 |
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 Idaho | $47,350 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $49,627 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$722 |
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 | $56,217 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$873 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 91 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Idaho earn less than $59,050. The published range is $46,190 up to $104,100, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- In Idaho the take-home figure of $47,350, from $59,050, 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 218 of 476 occupations here.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $51,791 uses one figure for the whole of Idaho. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 476 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 218.
- Reported values are medians; for mechanical drafters in Idaho the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $46,190 to $104,100. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Take-home for Idaho is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $47,350 from $59,050. 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 218 of 476 locally.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $51,791, worked from $59,050, 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 Idaho address, on work sitting at 218 of 476 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 $68,050 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?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $46,190 and the top tenth $104,100 — 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 Idaho sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $51,791 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 Idaho's own levy, $47,350 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 47 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release one.
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 Idaho is $68,050. 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 ($46,190) and the ninetieth ($104,100) 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?
Idaho'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 $51,791 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 $47,350 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Idaho 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.