Nursing Assistants in Indiana
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$31,877
after federal, FICA and Indiana tax
Tax takes
$6,453
16.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$34,580
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
$38,330
Kept after tax
$31,877
Worth in national money
$34,580
State rank
38
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for nursing assistants is on the low side in Indiana. The middle earner gets $38,330. That is 38 of 51 states, and about 9.3% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Against 493 occupations Indiana publishes, nursing assistants lands at 419. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $38,330 you keep $31,877 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $34,580 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $40,200, since top earners drag the number up.
- For nursing assistants, Indiana sits in the lower band at $38,330, ranking 38 of 51 and trailing the national median by about 9.3%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Within Indiana, this work ranks 419 of 493 occupations by median pay, in the bottom quartile. The within-state position is the more salient one for anyone weighing this job against alternatives available to them locally.
- Retained pay in Indiana is $31,877 after the full tax stack, from $38,330. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $34,580 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $40,200 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Nursing Assistants
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $35,390 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $38,330 |
| Top tenth earn over | $46,890 |
| This salary | $38,330 |
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 | $31,877 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $32,978 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$643 |
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 | $36,959 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$777 |
| 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 nursing assistants in Indiana earn under $38,330 and half over. The published range runs $35,390 at the tenth percentile to $46,890 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In Indiana the take-home figure of $31,877, from $38,330, assumes one filer, no dependants, and nothing paid into a pension before tax. Each of those lowers the bill, so treat it as the plain case. City and school-district income taxes are not included either, and in a few states those are real money. It ranks 419 of 493 occupations here.
- One number stands for prices across all of Indiana, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $34,580, the adjusted value of that $38,330 median, as a way to compare states fairly, not as a quote for any particular place. The two datasets are also from different years. This job sits at 419 of 493 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for nursing assistants in Indiana, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $35,390 to $46,890; 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.
- Take-home for Indiana is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $31,877 from $38,330. Each omitted item reduces taxable income, so the figure is a lower bound on retained pay for this household shape. Municipal and school-district income taxes are excluded, which understates the burden materially in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The occupation ranks 419 of 493 locally.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Indiana, so $34,580 — the adjusted value of that $38,330 median — establishes comparability between states rather than accuracy within one. The wage and parity series are dated independently, each following its own publication cycle, and neither is projected forward. This occupation sits at 419 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 $40,200, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $35,390 at the bottom tenth to $46,890 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
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 $34,580.
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, $31,877 remains.
Can I compare this job across every state?
Yes for this one. Pay is published in all 51 jurisdictions, so a state-to-state comparison here rests on the same survey everywhere rather than on a patchwork.
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 $40,200. 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 is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($35,390 to $46,890) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Indiana rather than a national figure.
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 $34,580 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 $31,877 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.
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.