Mechanical Engineers in Georgia

A pale wooden scale model and metal measuring tools on an engineering workbench.

May 2025 wages · tax year 2026

You keep

$75,194

after federal, FICA and Georgia tax

Tax takes

$25,426

25.3% of the whole

Worth, in national money

$77,761

Georgia costs less than average

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

$100,620

Kept after tax

$75,194

Worth in national money

$77,761

State rank

30

of 51 states

What this pays, and what it is worth

  • Georgia sits in the middle of the pack for mechanical engineers. The median is $100,620, ranking 30 of 51 states with figures. Close enough to the national middle that where you live matters more than the headline suggests.
  • This is one of the better-paid jobs in Georgia. It ranks 62 out of 492 occupations the state publishes figures for, which puts it in the top quarter locally.
  • Here is where Georgia does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $100,620 you keep $75,194, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $77,761 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $109,650, because the best-paid pull it up.
  • Georgia occupies the middle band for mechanical engineers: a median of $100,620, ranking 30 of 51. Where nominal pay is close to the national figure, the tax and price adjustments below carry proportionally more weight in determining the real outcome.
  • Within Georgia, mechanical engineers ranks 62 of 492 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.
  • After federal, FICA and Georgia income tax, retained pay for mechanical engineers on $100,620 is $75,194. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $77,761 in national-average terms. ⚠️ That figure is purchasing power, not a wage, and nobody is paid it; it is what the take-home buys. The mean of $109,650 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.

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 Engineers

The state median for this job

50thpercentile, roughly
Lowest tenth earn under$71,940
Half earn under$100,620
Top tenth earn over$156,320
This salary$100,620

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

Compare with
+$4,422take-home per year in Texas
Take-home in Georgia$75,194
Take-home in Texas$79,616
Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity+$4,170

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

Moving to
$0now · $100,620$94,860
$94,860in Texas, for the same life
To match take-home only$94,334
You could take a cut of−$5,760
Prices in Texas97 vs 97

State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.

Sources and assumptions
  • Treat $100,620 as a midpoint for Georgia, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $71,940 and the ninetieth is $156,320 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
  • One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Georgia's $75,194, worked from $100,620. 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 62 of 492.
  • The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $77,761 uses one figure for the whole of Georgia. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 492 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 62.
  • The Georgia median of $100,620 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $71,940 to $156,320. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
  • The Georgia take-home of $75,194, on $100,620 for work ranking 62 of 492 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 62 of 492 in the state.
  • Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $77,761, worked from $100,620, 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 Georgia address, on work sitting at 62 of 492 locally.

Questions people ask

Is this the average pay for the job?

No — it is the middle. Half of these workers earn more and half earn less. The average is $109,650, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.

Why is the pay range for this job so wide?

One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $71,940, the highest tenth $156,320, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.

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 $77,761.

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; Georgia then takes its own share, leaving $75,194.

Can I compare this job across every state?

All 51 jurisdictions report this work, which makes the ranking a like-for-like 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 Georgia is $109,650. 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 ($71,940) and the ninetieth ($156,320) 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?

Georgia'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 $77,761 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 $75,194 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Georgia 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.

Is this occupation's state coverage complete?

State-level estimates are published for all 51 jurisdictions for this occupation, so cross-state comparison is not confounded by suppression. ⚠️ Estimates remain survey-based and carry sampling error; small differences between adjacent states should not be over-read.