Sewing Machine Operators in North Dakota
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$30,865
after federal, FICA and North Dakota tax
Tax takes
$4,835
13.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$34,847
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
$35,700
Kept after tax
$30,865
Worth in national money
$34,847
State rank
34
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for sewing machine operators is on the low side in North Dakota. The middle earner gets $35,700. That is 34 of 50 states, and about 2.65% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Against 460 occupations North Dakota publishes, sewing machine operators lands at 431. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Here is where North Dakota does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $35,700 you keep $30,865, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $34,847 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $38,150, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For sewing machine operators, North Dakota sits in the lower band at $35,700, ranking 34 of 50 and trailing the national median by about 2.65%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Within North Dakota, this work ranks 431 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.
- After federal, FICA and North Dakota income tax, retained pay for sewing machine operators on $35,700 is $30,865. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $34,847 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 $38,150 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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Pay band: Sewing Machine Operators
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $27,950 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $35,700 |
| Top tenth earn over | $55,080 |
| This salary | $35,700 |
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 | $30,865 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $30,865 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$3,085 |
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 | $35,700 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$3,731 |
| 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 sewing machine operators in North Dakota earn under $35,700 and half over. The published range runs $27,950 at the tenth percentile to $55,080 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $30,865 take-home in North Dakota comes from $35,700. 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 431 of 460.
- Two cautions on $34,847, the adjusted value of that $35,700 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 431 of 460 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for sewing machine operators in North Dakota, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $27,950 to $55,080; 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 $30,865, from $35,700, 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 431 of 460 locally, and the state ranks 34 of 50 for it.
- This $34,847 adjusted figure, worked from $35,700, 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 431 of 460 in the state. The occupation ranks 431 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 $38,150, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $27,950, the highest tenth $55,080, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
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 $34,847 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, $30,865 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 50 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release 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 $38,150. 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 ($27,950) and the ninetieth ($55,080) 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?
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 $34,847 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 $30,865 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.
Why does this occupation lack published estimates in every state?
BLS suppresses estimates failing disclosure or reliability criteria. This occupation has published state-level estimates in 50 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.