Plumbers, Pipefitters, and Steamfitters in Nebraska
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$49,099
after federal, FICA and Nebraska tax
Tax takes
$11,871
19.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$54,327
Nebraska costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Nebraska — 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
$60,970
Kept after tax
$49,099
Worth in national money
$54,327
State rank
37
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is on the low side in Nebraska. The middle earner gets $60,970. That is 37 of 51 states, and about 4.44% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 488 occupations Nebraska reports figures for, this is number 213.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $60,970 you keep $49,099 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $54,327 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $65,710, since top earners drag the number up.
- For plumbers, pipefitters, and steamfitters, Nebraska sits in the lower band at $60,970, ranking 37 of 51 and trailing the national median by about 4.44%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- In Nebraska's occupational distribution, plumbers, pipefitters, and steamfitters sits at 213 of 488 — neither quartile. This local position is what a resident compares against, and it is determined by the state's own labor market rather than by national patterns for this occupation.
- Retained pay in Nebraska is $49,099 after the full tax stack, from $60,970. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $54,327 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $65,710 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Plumbers, Pipefitters, and Steamfitters
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $42,830 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $60,970 |
| Top tenth earn over | $98,030 |
| This salary | $60,970 |
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 Nebraska | $49,099 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $51,169 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,670 |
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 | $58,393 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,020 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $60,970 as a midpoint for Nebraska, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $42,830 and the ninetieth is $98,030 — 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 Nebraska's $49,099, worked from $60,970. 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 213 of 488.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $54,327 uses one figure for the whole of Nebraska. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 488 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 213.
- The Nebraska median of $60,970 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $42,830 to $98,030. 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 Nebraska take-home of $49,099, on $60,970 for work ranking 213 of 488 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 213 of 488 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $54,327, worked from $60,970, 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 Nebraska address, on work sitting at 213 of 488 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
Half earn more than this and half earn less. The average sits at $65,710 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
The label is broader than the work. From $42,830 at the bottom tenth to $98,030 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Nebraska is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $54,327 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 Nebraska's own levy, $49,099 remains.
Can I compare this job across every state?
This occupation is published everywhere — all 51 of them — so comparing states measures real differences rather than gaps in the data.
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 Nebraska is $65,710. 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 ($42,830) and the ninetieth ($98,030) 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?
Nebraska'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 $54,327 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 $49,099 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Nebraska 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.