Printing Press Operators in Indiana
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$37,218
after federal, FICA and Indiana tax
Tax takes
$8,012
17.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$40,373
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
$45,230
Kept after tax
$37,218
Worth in national money
$40,373
State rank
27
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. Indiana is 27 of 51 states for printing press operators, with a middle wage of $45,230. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- Against other work in Indiana, this sits in the middle: 367 of 493 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Here is where Indiana does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $45,230 you keep $37,218, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $40,373 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $46,860, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Indiana ranks 27 of 51 for printing press operators at $45,230. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- Printing press operators ranks 367 of 493 occupations in Indiana by median pay, in the middle bands. Within-state and national positions are separate measurements and a job commonly sits in different quartiles on each.
- After federal, FICA and Indiana income tax, retained pay for printing press operators on $45,230 is $37,218. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $40,373 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 $46,860 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Printing Press Operators
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $34,820 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $45,230 |
| Top tenth earn over | $61,330 |
| This salary | $45,230 |
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 | $37,218 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $38,522 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$731 |
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 | $43,606 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$884 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 92 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Indiana earn less than $45,230. The published range is $34,820 up to $61,330, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- In Indiana the take-home figure of $37,218, from $45,230, 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 367 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 $40,373, the adjusted value of that $45,230 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 367 of 493 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for printing press operators in Indiana the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $34,820 to $61,330. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Take-home for Indiana is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $37,218 from $45,230. 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 367 of 493 locally.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Indiana, so $40,373 — the adjusted value of that $45,230 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 367 of 493 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 $46,860 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $34,820 and the top tenth $61,330, so most people doing this work in Indiana sit within a fairly tight band.
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 $40,373 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, $37,218 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 Indiana is $46,860. 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 ($34,820 to $61,330) 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 $40,373 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 $37,218 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.