Structural Iron and Steel Workers in Arizona

A hard hat, safety glasses and tool belt beside timber house framing.

May 2025 wages · tax year 2026

You keep

$48,818

after federal, FICA and Arizona tax

Tax takes

$10,572

17.8% of the whole

Worth, in national money

$48,284

Arizona costs more than average

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

$59,390

Kept after tax

$48,818

Worth in national money

$48,284

State rank

34

of 50 states

What this pays, and what it is worth

  • Arizona is among the lower-paying states for structural iron and steel workers. The middle earner takes $59,390, ranking 34 of 50 states — about 5.4% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
  • Middle of the local pack. Of 491 occupations Arizona reports figures for, this is number 236.
  • Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $59,390 the take-home is $48,818, which is worth about $48,284 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is higher, $62,360, because the best-paid pull it up.
  • Arizona ranks 34 of 50 for structural iron and steel workers, with a median of $59,390 — about 5.4% 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.
  • In Arizona's occupational distribution, structural iron and steel workers sits at 236 of 491 — neither quartile. This local position is what a resident compares against, and it is determined by the state's own labor market rather than by national patterns for this occupation.
  • Arizona's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for structural iron and steel workers on its $59,390 median: $48,818 retained after tax becomes $48,284 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $62,360 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.

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Pay band: Structural Iron and Steel Workers

The state median for this job

50thpercentile, roughly
Lowest tenth earn under$46,470
Half earn under$59,390
Top tenth earn over$92,270
This salary$59,390

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

Compare with
+$1,082take-home per year in Texas
Take-home in Arizona$48,818
Take-home in Texas$49,900
Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity+$3,066

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

Moving to
$0now · $59,390$55,681
$55,681in Texas, for the same life
To match take-home only$58,043
You could take a cut of−$3,709
Prices in Texas97 vs 101

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 structural iron and steel workers in Arizona earn under $59,390 and half over. The published range runs $46,470 at the tenth percentile to $92,270 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
  • One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Arizona's $48,818, worked from $59,390. 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 236 of 491.
  • Two cautions on $48,284, the adjusted value of that $59,390 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Arizona. 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 236 of 491 locally.
  • Figures are distribution medians for structural iron and steel workers in Arizona, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $46,470 to $92,270; 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.
  • The Arizona take-home of $48,818, on $59,390 for work ranking 236 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 236 of 491 in the state.
  • This $48,284 adjusted figure, worked from $59,390, 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 236 of 491 in the state. The occupation ranks 236 of 491 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 $62,360 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?

The label is broader than the work. From $46,470 at the bottom tenth to $92,270 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.

Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?

A larger wage in a dearer place is not automatically more. Adjusted for local prices, this pay behaves like $48,284 of national purchasing power.

Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?

Four deductions, stacked. The federal layer and the two payroll taxes apply wherever you work; Arizona then takes its own share, leaving $48,818.

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 Arizona is $62,360. 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 ($46,470) and the ninetieth ($92,270) 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?

Arizona's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $48,284 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 $48,818 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Arizona 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.