Printing Press Operators in North Dakota
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$32,592
after federal, FICA and North Dakota tax
Tax takes
$5,258
13.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$36,798
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
$37,850
Kept after tax
$32,592
Worth in national money
$36,798
State rank
47
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. North Dakota pays printing press operators a middle wage of $37,850, 47 of 51 states and about 17.32% 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, printing press operators ranks 412. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $37,850 you keep $32,592 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $36,798 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $41,960, since top earners drag the number up.
- North Dakota's $37,850 median for printing press operators places it 47 of 51 states, about 17.32% 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, printing press operators ranks 412 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 $32,592 after the full tax stack, from $37,850. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $36,798 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $41,960 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Printing Press Operators
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $30,700 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $37,850 |
| Top tenth earn over | $57,100 |
| This salary | $37,850 |
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 | $32,592 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $32,592 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$3,258 |
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 | $37,850 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$3,940 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 89 |
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 printing press operators in North Dakota earn under $37,850 and half over. The published range runs $30,700 at the tenth percentile to $57,100 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $32,592 take-home in North Dakota comes from $37,850. 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 412 of 460.
- Two cautions on $36,798, the adjusted value of that $37,850 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 412 of 460 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for printing press operators in North Dakota, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $30,700 to $57,100; 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 $32,592, from $37,850, assumes a single North Dakota 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 412 of 460 locally, and the state ranks 47 of 51 for it.
- This $36,798 adjusted figure, worked from $37,850, 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 412 of 460 in the state. The occupation ranks 412 of 460 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 $41,960 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 $30,700 and the top tenth $57,100, so most people doing this work in North Dakota sit within a fairly tight band.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. North Dakota is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $36,798 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 North Dakota's own levy, $32,592 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 North Dakota is $41,960. 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 ($30,700 to $57,100) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to North Dakota rather than a national figure.
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 $36,798 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 $32,592 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.