Mechanical Drafters in Texas
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$64,674
after federal, FICA and Texas tax
Tax takes
$14,706
18.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$66,554
Texas costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Texas — 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
$79,380
Kept after tax
$64,674
Worth in national money
$66,554
State rank
5
of 47 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. Texas pays mechanical drafters a middle wage of $79,380, ranking 5 of 47 states and sitting about 10.94% above the national middle.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in Texas. It ranks 116 out of 493 occupations the state publishes figures for, which puts it in the top quarter locally.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $79,380 the take-home is $64,674, which is worth about $66,554 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is higher, $80,450, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Texas's median for mechanical drafters is $79,380, about 10.94% above the national figure and 5 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.
- Within Texas, mechanical drafters ranks 116 of 493 occupations by median pay, placing it in the top quartile of the local distribution. This is the comparison a resident actually makes — against neighbors rather than against the same job elsewhere.
- Texas's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for mechanical drafters on its $79,380 median: $64,674 retained after tax becomes $66,554 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $80,450 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 | $52,000 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $79,380 |
| Top tenth earn over | $106,080 |
| This salary | $79,380 |
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 Texas | $64,674 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Florida | $64,674 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$4,038 |
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 | $79,380 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$5,938 |
| Prices in Florida | 103 vs 97 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $79,380 as a midpoint for Texas, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $52,000 and the ninetieth is $106,080 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $64,674 take-home in Texas comes from $79,380. 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 116 of 493.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $66,554 uses one figure for the whole of Texas. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 493 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 116.
- The Texas median of $79,380 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $52,000 to $106,080. 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 $64,674, from $79,380, assumes a single Texas 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 116 of 493 locally, and the state ranks 5 of 47 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $66,554, worked from $79,380, 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 Texas address, on work sitting at 116 of 493 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $52,000 and the top tenth $106,080, so most people doing this work in Texas sit within a fairly tight band.
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 $66,554.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
No. $64,674 survives, because Texas levies no wage income tax. The federal share does not change with the state you work in.
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 ($52,000 to $106,080) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Texas rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Texas'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 $66,554 in national-average terms. The adjustment uses an all-items index and does not isolate housing.
Why is the take-home ratio comparatively high in this state?
Texas levies no personal income tax on wages, so take-home of $64,674 reflects the federal layer and FICA alone. Federal income tax and FICA are unchanged; states without a wage income tax generally recover revenue through consumption and property bases instead.
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.