Sheet Metal Workers in New York
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$57,334
after federal, FICA and New York tax
Tax takes
$16,426
22.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$53,272
New York costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in New York — 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
$73,760
Kept after tax
$57,334
Worth in national money
$53,272
State rank
11
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. New York pays sheet metal workers a middle wage of $73,760, ranking 11 of 50 states and sitting about 19.35% above the national middle.
- Against other work in New York, this sits in the middle: 222 of 493 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- The wage here flatters the reality. From $73,760 the take-home is $57,334. But New York costs more than the national average, so that money behaves more like $53,272 would elsewhere. Worth knowing before comparing offers across states. The average is higher, $77,240, because the best-paid pull it up.
- New York's median for sheet metal workers is $73,760, about 19.35% above the national figure and 11 of 50 states reporting. Whether that premium reaches the worker depends on the two adjustments below, which is the part a wage table cannot tell you.
- Sheet metal workers ranks 222 of 493 occupations in New York 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 after federal, FICA and New York income tax is $57,334 for sheet metal workers, from $73,760. The state's price level exceeds the national average, so the price-adjusted equivalent is $53,272. ⚠️ This is purchasing power and not a wage; cross-state offer comparisons that stop at the nominal figure systematically overvalue high-cost states. The mean of $77,240 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
Choose your filing status and local taxes, compare pay, and keep a shortlist.Compare wage and personal-pay outcomes by state, with selected resident local taxes and saved career choices.
Pay band: Sheet Metal Workers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $40,330 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $73,760 |
| Top tenth earn over | $126,090 |
| This salary | $73,760 |
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 New York | $57,334 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $60,720 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$9,214 |
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 | $68,947 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$12,047 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 108 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in New York earn less than $73,760. The published range is $40,330 up to $126,090, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $57,334 take-home in New York comes from $73,760. 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 222 of 493.
- One number stands for prices across all of New York, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $53,272, the adjusted value of that $73,760 median, as a way to compare states fairly, not as a quote for any particular place. The two datasets are also from different years. This job sits at 222 of 493 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for sheet metal workers in New York the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $40,330 to $126,090. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $57,334, from $73,760, assumes a single New York 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 222 of 493 locally, and the state ranks 11 of 50 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for New York, so $53,272 — the adjusted value of that $73,760 median — establishes comparability between states rather than accuracy within one. The wage and parity series are dated independently, each following its own publication cycle, and neither is projected forward. This occupation sits at 222 of 493 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
Half earn more than this and half earn less. The average sits at $77,240 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $40,330, the highest tenth $126,090, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
The number and the value are different things. New York costs more than the national average, so this take-home stretches like $53,272 rather than its face figure.
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 New York's own levy, $57,334 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
Because the survey suppresses a figure when too few employers report it. This occupation has published pay in 50 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
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 New York is $77,240. 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 ($40,330) and the ninetieth ($126,090) 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.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
New York's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $53,272 in national-average terms. ⚠️ RPPs are an all-items index; housing parities vary far more widely than the headline figure.
What accounts for the gap between gross wage and take-home here?
Take-home of $57,334 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and New York 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.