Software Developers in North Dakota
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$82,320
after federal, FICA and North Dakota tax
Tax takes
$23,280
22.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$92,941
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
$105,600
Kept after tax
$82,320
Worth in national money
$92,941
State rank
46
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. North Dakota pays software developers a middle wage of $105,600, 46 of 50 states and about 22.34% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in North Dakota. It ranks 37 out of 460 occupations the state publishes figures for, which puts it in the top quarter locally.
- North Dakota is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $105,600 the take-home is $82,320; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $92,941 would nationally. The average comes to $107,000, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- North Dakota's $105,600 median for software developers places it 46 of 50 states, about 22.34% below national. Because both the tax and price adjustments tend to favor lower-nominal states, this ranking is the least stable of the three reported here.
- Within North Dakota, software developers ranks 37 of 460 occupations by median pay, placing it in the top quartile of the local distribution. This is the comparison a resident actually makes — against neighbors rather than against the same job elsewhere.
- Post-tax income for software developers in North Dakota, on $105,600, is $82,320 — equivalent to $92,941 once regional price parity is applied. ⚠️ The adjustment uses a statewide index that describes no particular address; within-state price variation, concentrated in housing, routinely exceeds the difference between two states. At $107,000 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
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Pay band: Software Developers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $62,900 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $105,600 |
| Top tenth earn over | $158,060 |
| This salary | $105,600 |
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 | $82,320 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $83,120 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$7,405 |
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 | $104,463 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$10,228 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 89 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $105,600 as a midpoint for North Dakota, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $62,900 and the ninetieth is $158,060 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In North Dakota the take-home figure of $82,320, from $105,600, 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 37 of 460 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $92,941, the adjusted value of that $105,600 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 37 of 460 locally.
- The North Dakota median of $105,600 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $62,900 to $158,060. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Take-home for North Dakota is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $82,320 from $105,600. 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 37 of 460 locally.
- This $92,941 adjusted figure, worked from $105,600, 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 37 of 460 in the state. The occupation ranks 37 of 460 locally.
Questions people ask
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $62,900, the highest tenth $158,060, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
A smaller wage in a cheaper place is not automatically less. Adjusted for local prices, this is worth $92,941.
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 North Dakota adds its own income tax on top — which is why $82,320 of this wage survives to your account.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 50 states here, and a missing state means too few reports, not no jobs.
What drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($62,900) and the ninetieth ($158,060) 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?
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 $92,941 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 $82,320 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.