Sheet Metal Workers in Idaho
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$37,819
after federal, FICA and Idaho tax
Tax takes
$8,531
18.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$41,366
Idaho costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Idaho — 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
$46,350
Kept after tax
$37,819
Worth in national money
$41,366
State rank
49
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Idaho is among the lower-paying states for sheet metal workers. The middle earner takes $46,350, ranking 49 of 50 states — about 25% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
- Against other work in Idaho, this sits in the middle: 328 of 476 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $46,350 you keep $37,819 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $41,366 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $55,090, since top earners drag the number up.
- Idaho ranks 49 of 50 for sheet metal workers, with a median of $46,350 — about 25% below the national figure. A nominal shortfall is not by itself a real one: lower-paying states frequently carry lower tax and lower price levels, and the adjusted figures below are where that is settled rather than assumed.
- Sheet metal workers ranks 328 of 476 occupations in Idaho by median pay, in the middle bands. Within-state and national positions are separate measurements and a job commonly sits in different quartiles on each.
- Retained pay in Idaho is $37,819 after the full tax stack, from $46,350. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $41,366 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $55,090 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Sheet Metal Workers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $36,340 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $46,350 |
| Top tenth earn over | $78,470 |
| This salary | $46,350 |
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 Idaho | $37,819 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $39,422 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$798 |
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 | $44,355 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$965 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 91 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Idaho earn less than $46,350. The published range is $36,340 up to $78,470, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- In Idaho the take-home figure of $37,819, from $46,350, 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 328 of 476 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $41,366, the adjusted value of that $46,350 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Idaho. 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 328 of 476 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for sheet metal workers in Idaho the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $36,340 to $78,470. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Take-home for Idaho is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $37,819 from $46,350. 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 328 of 476 locally.
- This $41,366 adjusted figure, worked from $46,350, 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 328 of 476 in the state. The occupation ranks 328 of 476 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $55,090, 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 $36,340, the highest tenth $78,470, 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 Idaho sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $41,366 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 Idaho adds its own income tax on top — which is why $37,819 of this wage survives to your account.
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 Idaho is $55,090. 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 ($36,340) and the ninetieth ($78,470) 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?
Idaho'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 $41,366 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 $37,819 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Idaho 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.