Retail Salespersons in North Dakota
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$31,138
after federal, FICA and North Dakota tax
Tax takes
$4,902
13.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$35,156
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
$36,040
Kept after tax
$31,138
Worth in national money
$35,156
State rank
17
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for retail salespersons is strong here. North Dakota's middle earner gets $36,040, putting the state 17 of 51 — about 1.78% ahead of the national figure.
- Against 460 occupations North Dakota publishes, retail salespersons lands at 429. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $36,040 you keep $31,138 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $35,156 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $38,530, since top earners drag the number up.
- For retail salespersons, North Dakota sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $36,040, ranking 17 of 51 and running about 1.78% 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.
- Within North Dakota, this work ranks 429 of 460 occupations by median pay, in the bottom quartile. The within-state position is the more salient one for anyone weighing this job against alternatives available to them locally.
- Retained pay in North Dakota is $31,138 after the full tax stack, from $36,040. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $35,156 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $38,530 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Retail Salespersons
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $28,140 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $36,040 |
| Top tenth earn over | $49,820 |
| This salary | $36,040 |
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 | $31,138 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $31,138 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$3,112 |
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 | $36,040 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$3,764 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 89 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in North Dakota earn less than $36,040. The published range is $28,140 up to $49,820, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- In North Dakota the take-home figure of $31,138, from $36,040, 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 429 of 460 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $35,156, the adjusted value of that $36,040 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 429 of 460 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for retail salespersons in North Dakota the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $28,140 to $49,820. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Take-home for North Dakota is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $31,138 from $36,040. 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 429 of 460 locally.
- This $35,156 adjusted figure, worked from $36,040, 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 429 of 460 in the state. The occupation ranks 429 of 460 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $38,530, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $28,140 at the tenth percentile, $49,820 at the ninetieth.
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 $35,156 in national terms.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Four deductions, stacked. The federal layer and the two payroll taxes apply wherever you work; North Dakota then takes its own share, leaving $31,138.
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 North Dakota is $38,530. 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 ($28,140 to $49,820) 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 $35,156 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 $31,138 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.