Recreation Workers in Indiana
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$25,577
after federal, FICA and Indiana tax
Tax takes
$4,613
15.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$27,745
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
$30,190
Kept after tax
$25,577
Worth in national money
$27,745
State rank
44
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Indiana pays recreation workers a middle wage of $30,190, 44 of 51 states and about 17.42% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Within Indiana this is lower-paid work. Of 493 occupations the state publishes figures for, recreation workers ranks 474. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Indiana is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $30,190 the take-home is $25,577; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $27,745 would nationally. The average comes to $32,710, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Indiana's $30,190 median for recreation workers places it 44 of 51 states, about 17.42% 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 Indiana reports, recreation workers ranks 474 of 493, 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.
- Post-tax income for recreation workers in Indiana, on $30,190, is $25,577 — equivalent to $27,745 once regional price parity is applied. ⚠️ The adjustment uses a statewide index that describes no particular address; within-state price variation, concentrated in housing, routinely exceeds the difference between two states. At $32,710 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
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Pay band: Recreation Workers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $22,470 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $30,190 |
| Top tenth earn over | $45,710 |
| This salary | $30,190 |
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 | $25,577 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $26,438 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$539 |
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 | $29,118 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$652 |
| 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 $30,190. The published range is $22,470 up to $45,710, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $25,577 take-home in Indiana comes from $30,190. 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 474 of 493.
- Two cautions on $27,745, the adjusted value of that $30,190 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Indiana. 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 474 of 493 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for recreation workers in Indiana the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $22,470 to $45,710. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $25,577, from $30,190, 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 474 of 493 locally, and the state ranks 44 of 51 for it.
- This $27,745 adjusted figure, worked from $30,190, 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 474 of 493 in the state. The occupation ranks 474 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 $32,710, 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?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $22,470, the highest tenth $45,710, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in Indiana sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $27,745 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Into four separate taxes, not one. Federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare apply everywhere, and Indiana adds its own income tax on top — which is why $25,577 of this wage survives to your account.
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 $32,710. 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 ($22,470) and the ninetieth ($45,710) 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 $27,745 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 $25,577 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.