Natural Sciences Managers in Indiana
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$81,820
after federal, FICA and Indiana tax
Tax takes
$26,430
24.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$88,757
Indiana costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Indiana — 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
$108,250
Kept after tax
$81,820
Worth in national money
$88,757
State rank
47
of 48 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Indiana pays natural sciences managers a middle wage of $108,250, 47 of 48 states and about 35.26% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Within Indiana this is well-paid work. Of 493 occupations with published figures in the state, natural sciences managers ranks 31 — in the top quarter of everything people do there.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $108,250 you keep $81,820 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $88,757 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $119,950, since top earners drag the number up.
- Indiana's $108,250 median for natural sciences managers places it 47 of 48 states, about 35.26% 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.
- Ranked against every occupation Indiana publishes a median for, natural sciences managers sits 31 of 493 — the upper quartile of the state's wage distribution. National standing and within-state standing are separate questions, and a job can occupy very different positions on each.
- Retained pay in Indiana is $81,820 after the full tax stack, from $108,250. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $88,757 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $119,950 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Natural Sciences Managers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $56,530 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $108,250 |
| Top tenth earn over | $203,340 |
| This salary | $108,250 |
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 Indiana | $81,820 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $84,984 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,303 |
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 | $103,753 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,800 |
| 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 natural sciences managers in Indiana earn under $108,250 and half over. The published range runs $56,530 at the tenth percentile to $203,340 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $81,820 take-home in Indiana comes from $108,250. 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 31 of 493.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $88,757 uses one figure for the whole of Indiana. 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 31.
- Figures are distribution medians for natural sciences managers in Indiana, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $56,530 to $203,340; 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.
- Retained pay of $81,820, from $108,250, assumes a single Indiana 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 31 of 493 locally, and the state ranks 47 of 48 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $88,757, worked from $108,250, 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 Indiana address, on work sitting at 31 of 493 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 $119,950, 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?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $56,530 and the top tenth $203,340 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Indiana is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $88,757 in national terms.
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 Indiana's own levy, $81,820 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 48 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release 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 Indiana is $119,950. 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 ($56,530) and the ninetieth ($203,340) 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?
Indiana'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 $88,757 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 $81,820 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Indiana 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 48 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.