Mechanical Drafters in Indiana
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$50,832
after federal, FICA and Indiana tax
Tax takes
$11,988
19.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$55,142
Indiana costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Indiana — 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
$62,820
Kept after tax
$50,832
Worth in national money
$55,142
State rank
37
of 47 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for mechanical drafters is on the low side in Indiana. The middle earner gets $62,820. That is 37 of 47 states, and about 12.2% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Against other work in Indiana, this sits in the middle: 186 of 493 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Here is where Indiana does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $62,820 you keep $50,832, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $55,142 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $65,210, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For mechanical drafters, Indiana sits in the lower band at $62,820, ranking 37 of 47 and trailing the national median by about 12.2%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Mechanical drafters ranks 186 of 493 occupations in Indiana 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.
- After federal, FICA and Indiana income tax, retained pay for mechanical drafters on $62,820 is $50,832. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $55,142 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 $65,210 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Mechanical Drafters
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $45,470 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $62,820 |
| Top tenth earn over | $88,470 |
| This salary | $62,820 |
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 Indiana | $50,832 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $52,656 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$955 |
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 | $60,550 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,156 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 92 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $62,820 as a midpoint for Indiana, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $45,470 and the ninetieth is $88,470 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $50,832 take-home in Indiana comes from $62,820. 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 186 of 493.
- One number stands for prices across all of Indiana, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $55,142, the adjusted value of that $62,820 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 186 of 493 in the state.
- The Indiana median of $62,820 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $45,470 to $88,470. 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 $50,832, from $62,820, assumes a single Indiana 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 186 of 493 locally, and the state ranks 37 of 47 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Indiana, so $55,142 — the adjusted value of that $62,820 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 186 of 493 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $65,210, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $45,470 and the top tenth $88,470, so most people doing this work in Indiana sit within a fairly tight band.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Indiana is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $55,142 in national terms.
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 Indiana adds its own income tax on top — which is why $50,832 of this wage survives to your account.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 47 states here, and a missing state means too few reports, not no jobs.
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 Indiana is $65,210. 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 is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($45,470 to $88,470) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Indiana rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Indiana'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 $55,142 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 $50,832 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Indiana 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.