Refuse and Recyclable Material Collectors in Indiana
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$47,798
after federal, FICA and Indiana tax
Tax takes
$11,102
18.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$51,851
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
$58,900
Kept after tax
$47,798
Worth in national money
$51,851
State rank
13
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is strong here. Indiana's middle earner gets $58,900, putting the state 13 of 51 — about 18.53% ahead of the national figure.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 493 occupations Indiana reports figures for, this is number 232.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $58,900 you keep $47,798 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $51,851 at national prices. Here the average runs under the middle, at $54,930.
- For refuse and recyclable material collectors, Indiana sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $58,900, ranking 13 of 51 and running about 18.53% above the national midpoint. Nominal advantage of this size is usually, though not always, large enough to survive the state's own tax and price levels.
- In Indiana's occupational distribution, refuse and recyclable material collectors sits at 232 of 493 — 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 Indiana is $47,798 after the full tax stack, from $58,900. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $51,851 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $54,930 sits under the median, so the lower tail is the longer one.
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Pay band: Refuse and Recyclable Material Collectors
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $36,000 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $58,900 |
| Top tenth earn over | $64,680 |
| This salary | $58,900 |
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 | $47,798 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $49,506 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$905 |
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 | $56,774 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,095 |
| 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 refuse and recyclable material collectors in Indiana earn under $58,900 and half over. The published range runs $36,000 at the tenth percentile to $64,680 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Indiana's $47,798, worked from $58,900. 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 232 of 493.
- Two cautions on $51,851, the adjusted value of that $58,900 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 232 of 493 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for refuse and recyclable material collectors in Indiana, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $36,000 to $64,680; 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.
- The Indiana take-home of $47,798, on $58,900 for work ranking 232 of 493 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 232 of 493 in the state.
- This $51,851 adjusted figure, worked from $58,900, 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 232 of 493 in the state. The occupation ranks 232 of 493 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $54,930, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $36,000 and the top tenth $64,680, so most people doing this work in Indiana sit within a fairly tight band.
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 $51,851.
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 $47,798 of this wage survives to your account.
Can I compare this job across every state?
All 51 jurisdictions report this work, which makes the ranking a like-for-like one.
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 $54,930. 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 ($36,000 to $64,680) 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 $51,851 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 $47,798 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.