Medical Records Specialists in North Dakota
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$39,366
after federal, FICA and North Dakota tax
Tax takes
$6,914
14.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$44,445
North Dakota costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in North Dakota — 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
$46,280
Kept after tax
$39,366
Worth in national money
$44,445
State rank
46
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. North Dakota pays medical records specialists a middle wage of $46,280, 46 of 51 states and about 9.5% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Within North Dakota this is lower-paid work. Of 460 occupations the state publishes figures for, medical records specialists ranks 354. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $46,280 you keep $39,366 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $44,445 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $52,850, since top earners drag the number up.
- North Dakota's $46,280 median for medical records specialists places it 46 of 51 states, about 9.5% below national. Because both the tax and price adjustments tend to favor lower-nominal states, this ranking is the least stable of the three reported here.
- Against every occupation North Dakota reports, medical records specialists ranks 354 of 460, in the lowest quartile of the state's distribution. That position is set by the local labor market and is independent of how the state compares nationally for this work.
- Retained pay in North Dakota is $39,366 after the full tax stack, from $46,280. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $44,445 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $52,850 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Medical Records Specialists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $39,580 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $46,280 |
| Top tenth earn over | $79,800 |
| This salary | $46,280 |
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 North Dakota | $39,366 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $39,366 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$3,935 |
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 | $46,280 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$4,759 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 89 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in North Dakota earn less than $46,280. The published range is $39,580 up to $79,800, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind North Dakota's $39,366, worked from $46,280. 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 354 of 460.
- Two cautions on $44,445, the adjusted value of that $46,280 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of North Dakota. 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 354 of 460 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for medical records specialists in North Dakota the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $39,580 to $79,800. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The North Dakota take-home of $39,366, on $46,280 for work ranking 354 of 460 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 354 of 460 in the state.
- This $44,445 adjusted figure, worked from $46,280, 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 354 of 460 in the state. The occupation ranks 354 of 460 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $52,850, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $39,580, the highest tenth $79,800, 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 $44,445.
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; North Dakota then takes its own share, leaving $39,366.
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 North Dakota is $52,850. 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 ($39,580) and the ninetieth ($79,800) 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?
North Dakota'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 $44,445 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 $39,366 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and North Dakota 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.