Mechanical Drafters in Ohio
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$57,258
after federal, FICA and Ohio tax
Tax takes
$13,322
18.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$62,365
Ohio costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Ohio — 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
$70,580
Kept after tax
$57,258
Worth in national money
$62,365
State rank
18
of 47 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Ohio pays mechanical drafters around $70,580 at the midpoint, 18 of 47 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Against other work in Ohio, this sits in the middle: 166 of 494 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $70,580 you keep $57,258 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $62,365 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $71,460, since top earners drag the number up.
- For mechanical drafters the Ohio median is $70,580, ranking 18 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.
- Mechanical drafters ranks 166 of 494 occupations in Ohio 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.
- Retained pay in Ohio is $57,258 after the full tax stack, from $70,580. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $62,365 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $71,460 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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 | $49,400 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $70,580 |
| Top tenth earn over | $98,740 |
| This salary | $70,580 |
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 Ohio | $57,258 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $58,483 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,182 |
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 | $68,839 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$3,014 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 92 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- A median is the middle, not an offer. Half of mechanical drafters in Ohio earn under $70,580 and half over. The published range runs $49,400 at the tenth percentile to $98,740 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Ohio's $57,258, worked from $70,580. That is on purpose. It lets states be compared with each other, not with each other's family circumstances. Local city taxes are left out. Locally this work ranks 166 of 494.
- Two cautions on $62,365, the adjusted value of that $70,580 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Ohio. 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 166 of 494 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for mechanical drafters in Ohio, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $49,400 to $98,740; within-state dispersion of that width routinely exceeds the dispersion between states, so tenure, employer and metropolitan area predict an individual's pay better than geography does.
- The Ohio take-home of $57,258, on $70,580 for work ranking 166 of 494 locally, models the simplest household deliberately: holding it constant is what makes the interstate comparison meaningful. It also means the absolute figure overstates liability for most real filers, and municipal income taxes are outside the model entirely. The occupation ranks 166 of 494 in the state.
- This $62,365 adjusted figure, worked from $70,580, 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 166 of 494 in the state. The occupation ranks 166 of 494 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $49,400 at the bottom tenth to $98,740 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Ohio is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $62,365 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 Ohio adds its own income tax on top — which is why $57,258 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.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($49,400 to $98,740) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Ohio rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Ohio'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 $62,365 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 $57,258 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Ohio 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.