Sheet Metal Workers in Wisconsin
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$60,373
after federal, FICA and Wisconsin tax
Tax takes
$17,387
22.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$64,849
Wisconsin costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Wisconsin — 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
$77,760
Kept after tax
$60,373
Worth in national money
$64,849
State rank
8
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for sheet metal workers is strong here. Wisconsin's middle earner gets $77,760, putting the state 8 of 50 — about 25.83% ahead of the national figure.
- Against other work in Wisconsin, this sits in the middle: 137 of 491 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Here is where Wisconsin does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $77,760 you keep $60,373, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $64,849 would elsewhere. The average is lower, $76,130, so pay clusters nearer the top than usual.
- For sheet metal workers, Wisconsin sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $77,760, ranking 8 of 50 and running about 25.83% 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.
- Sheet metal workers ranks 137 of 491 occupations in Wisconsin 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.
- After federal, FICA and Wisconsin income tax, retained pay for sheet metal workers on $77,760 is $60,373. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $64,849 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 $76,130 falls below the median, a left skew that is uncommon in wage data.
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Pay band: Sheet Metal Workers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $45,160 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $77,760 |
| Top tenth earn over | $107,060 |
| This salary | $77,760 |
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 Wisconsin | $60,373 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $63,534 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$532 |
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 | $73,266 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$735 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 93 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $77,760 as a midpoint for Wisconsin, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $45,160 and the ninetieth is $107,060 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Wisconsin's $60,373, worked from $77,760. 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 137 of 491.
- One number stands for prices across all of Wisconsin, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $64,849, the adjusted value of that $77,760 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 137 of 491 in the state.
- The Wisconsin median of $77,760 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $45,160 to $107,060. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- The Wisconsin take-home of $60,373, on $77,760 for work ranking 137 of 491 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 137 of 491 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Wisconsin, so $64,849 — the adjusted value of that $77,760 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 137 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $45,160, the highest tenth $107,060, 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 Wisconsin sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $64,849 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 Wisconsin adds its own income tax on top — which is why $60,373 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.
What drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($45,160) and the ninetieth ($107,060) 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?
Wisconsin'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 $64,849 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 $60,373 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Wisconsin 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.