Mechanical Drafters in New York
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$59,107
after federal, FICA and New York tax
Tax takes
$17,383
22.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$54,919
New York costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in New York — 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
$76,490
Kept after tax
$59,107
Worth in national money
$54,919
State rank
10
of 47 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- New York is one of the better-paying states for mechanical drafters. The middle earner takes $76,490, which ranks 10 of 47 states with published figures. That is about 6.9% above the national middle.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. Mechanical drafters ranks 212 among 493 occupations New York publishes pay for.
- New York is an expensive state, and the adjusted figure shows it. From $76,490 the take-home is $59,107; in national-average money that behaves like $54,919. The average comes to $79,250, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- New York ranks 10 of 47 states publishing a median for mechanical drafters, at $76,490 — about 6.9% above the national median. A state's position on nominal pay is the figure wage tables report and the least informative of the three on this page, because it survives neither the tax adjustment nor the price adjustment intact for most occupations.
- Position 212 of 493 in New York 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.
- Take-home for mechanical drafters in New York, on $76,490, is $59,107; deflated by the state's price level, $54,919. ⚠️ The deflator is statewide, so it understates the erosion in the state's metropolitan areas and overstates it outside them. At $79,250 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Mechanical Drafters
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $51,990 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $76,490 |
| Top tenth earn over | $109,530 |
| This salary | $76,490 |
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 New York | $59,107 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $62,641 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$9,543 |
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 | $71,467 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$12,784 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 108 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in New York earn less than $76,490. The published range is $51,990 up to $109,530, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $59,107 take-home in New York comes from $76,490. 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 212 of 493.
- Two cautions on $54,919, the adjusted value of that $76,490 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of New York. 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 212 of 493 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for mechanical drafters in New York the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $51,990 to $109,530. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $59,107, from $76,490, assumes a single New York 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 212 of 493 locally, and the state ranks 10 of 47 for it.
- This $54,919 adjusted figure, worked from $76,490, 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 212 of 493 in the state. The occupation ranks 212 of 493 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 $79,250 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 $51,990 and the top tenth $109,530 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
Not on its own. Prices in New York run above the national level, so the same dollars buy less here. Adjusted for that, this pay is worth $54,919 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.
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 New York's own levy, $59,107 remains.
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 New York is $79,250. 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 ($51,990) and the ninetieth ($109,530) 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.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
New York's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $54,919 in national-average terms. ⚠️ RPPs are an all-items index; housing parities vary far more widely than the headline figure.
What accounts for the gap between gross wage and take-home here?
Take-home of $59,107 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and New York 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.