Structural Iron and Steel Workers in North Dakota
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$66,259
after federal, FICA and North Dakota tax
Tax takes
$15,861
19.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$74,808
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
$82,120
Kept after tax
$66,259
Worth in national money
$74,808
State rank
12
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. North Dakota pays structural iron and steel workers a middle wage of $82,120, ranking 12 of 50 states and sitting about 30.81% above the national middle.
- Within North Dakota this is well-paid work. Of 460 occupations with published figures in the state, structural iron and steel workers ranks 91 — in the top quarter of everything people do there.
- Here is where North Dakota does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $82,120 you keep $66,259, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $74,808 would elsewhere. The average is lower, $77,890, so pay clusters nearer the top than usual.
- North Dakota's median for structural iron and steel workers is $82,120, about 30.81% above the national figure and 12 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.
- Ranked against every occupation North Dakota publishes a median for, structural iron and steel workers sits 91 of 460 — the upper quartile of the state's wage distribution. National standing and within-state standing are separate questions, and a job can occupy very different positions on each.
- After federal, FICA and North Dakota income tax, retained pay for structural iron and steel workers on $82,120 is $66,259. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $74,808 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 $77,890 falls below the median, a left skew that is uncommon in wage data.
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Pay band: Structural Iron and Steel Workers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $57,410 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $82,120 |
| Top tenth earn over | $99,840 |
| This salary | $82,120 |
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 | $66,259 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $66,601 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$6,271 |
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 | $81,634 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$8,662 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 89 |
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 North Dakota earn under $82,120 and half over. The published range runs $57,410 at the tenth percentile to $99,840 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In North Dakota the take-home figure of $66,259, from $82,120, 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 91 of 460 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $74,808, the adjusted value of that $82,120 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 91 of 460 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for structural iron and steel workers in North Dakota, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $57,410 to $99,840; 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.
- Take-home for North Dakota is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $66,259 from $82,120. 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 91 of 460 locally.
- This $74,808 adjusted figure, worked from $82,120, 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 91 of 460 in the state. The occupation ranks 91 of 460 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 $77,890 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $57,410 and the top tenth $99,840, so most people doing this work in North Dakota sit within a fairly tight band.
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 $74,808.
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 $66,259 of this wage survives to your account.
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 North Dakota is $77,890. 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 is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($57,410 to $99,840) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to North Dakota rather than a national figure.
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 $74,808 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 $66,259 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.