Mechanical Drafters in Utah
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$54,960
after federal, FICA and Utah tax
Tax takes
$15,040
21.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$57,851
Utah costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Utah — 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
$70,000
Kept after tax
$54,960
Worth in national money
$57,851
State rank
19
of 47 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Utah sits in the middle of the pack for mechanical drafters. The median is $70,000, ranking 19 of 47 states with figures. Close enough to the national middle that where you live matters more than the headline suggests.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. Mechanical drafters ranks 160 among 487 occupations Utah publishes pay for.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $70,000 you keep $54,960 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $57,851 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $72,730, since top earners drag the number up.
- Utah occupies the middle band for mechanical drafters: a median of $70,000, ranking 19 of 47. Where nominal pay is close to the national figure, the tax and price adjustments below carry proportionally more weight in determining the real outcome.
- Position 160 of 487 in Utah 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.
- Retained pay in Utah is $54,960 after the full tax stack, from $70,000. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $57,851 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $72,730 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Mechanical Drafters
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $47,840 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $70,000 |
| Top tenth earn over | $101,020 |
| This salary | $70,000 |
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 Utah | $54,960 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $58,075 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$1,912 |
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 | $65,688 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$2,641 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 95 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $70,000 as a midpoint for Utah, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $47,840 and the ninetieth is $101,020 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $54,960 take-home in Utah comes from $70,000. 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 160 of 487.
- Two cautions on $57,851, the adjusted value of that $70,000 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Utah. 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 160 of 487 locally.
- The Utah median of $70,000 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $47,840 to $101,020. 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 $54,960, from $70,000, assumes a single Utah 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 160 of 487 locally, and the state ranks 19 of 47 for it.
- This $57,851 adjusted figure, worked from $70,000, 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 160 of 487 in the state. The occupation ranks 160 of 487 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $72,730, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $47,840 and the top tenth $101,020 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
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 $57,851.
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 Utah's own levy, $54,960 remains.
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 Utah is $72,730. 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 ($47,840) and the ninetieth ($101,020) 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.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Utah'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 $57,851 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 $54,960 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Utah 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.