Mechanical Drafters in Maine
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$58,715
after federal, FICA and Maine tax
Tax takes
$17,645
23.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$60,470
Maine costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the top tenth percentile for this work in Maine — 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
$76,360
Kept after tax
$58,715
Worth in national money
$60,470
State rank
11
of 47 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. Maine pays mechanical drafters a middle wage of $76,360, ranking 11 of 47 states and sitting about 6.72% above the national middle.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. Mechanical drafters ranks 140 among 484 occupations Maine publishes pay for.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $76,360, tax leaves $58,715, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $60,470 in comparable terms. Here the average runs under the middle, at $68,780.
- Maine's median for mechanical drafters is $76,360, about 6.72% above the national figure and 11 of 47 states reporting. Whether that premium reaches the worker depends on the two adjustments below, which is the part a wage table cannot tell you.
- Position 140 of 484 in Maine 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.
- Because Maine sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for mechanical drafters — median $76,360 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $58,715 retained, $60,470 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $68,780 sits under the median, so the lower tail is the longer one.
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Pay band: Mechanical Drafters
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $52,170 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $76,360 |
| Top tenth earn over | $76,360 |
| This salary | $76,360 |
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 Maine | $58,715 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $62,549 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$3,897 |
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 | $70,910 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$5,383 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 97 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Maine earn less than $76,360. The published range is $52,170 up to $76,360, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $58,715 take-home in Maine comes from $76,360. 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 140 of 484.
- Two cautions on $60,470, the adjusted value of that $76,360 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Maine. 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 140 of 484 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for mechanical drafters in Maine the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $52,170 to $76,360. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $58,715, from $76,360, assumes a single Maine 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 140 of 484 locally, and the state ranks 11 of 47 for it.
- This $60,470 adjusted figure, worked from $76,360, 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 140 of 484 in the state. The occupation ranks 140 of 484 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $68,780, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $52,170 at the bottom tenth to $76,360 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
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 $60,470.
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; Maine then takes its own share, leaving $58,715.
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 Maine is $68,780. 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 ($52,170 to $76,360) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Maine rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Maine'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 $60,470 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 $58,715 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Maine 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.