Surgical Technologists in Indiana
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$51,931
after federal, FICA and Indiana tax
Tax takes
$12,309
19.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$56,334
Indiana costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Indiana — 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
$64,240
Kept after tax
$51,931
Worth in national money
$56,334
State rank
23
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Indiana sits in the middle of the pack for surgical technologists. The median is $64,240, ranking 23 of 51 states with figures. Close enough to the national middle that where you live matters more than the headline suggests.
- Against other work in Indiana, this sits in the middle: 175 of 493 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $64,240 you keep $51,931 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $56,334 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $66,930, since top earners drag the number up.
- Indiana occupies the middle band for surgical technologists: a median of $64,240, ranking 23 of 51. Where nominal pay is close to the national figure, the tax and price adjustments below carry proportionally more weight in determining the real outcome.
- Surgical technologists ranks 175 of 493 occupations in Indiana 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 in Indiana is $51,931 after the full tax stack, from $64,240. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $56,334 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $66,930 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Surgical Technologists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $51,350 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $64,240 |
| Top tenth earn over | $80,600 |
| This salary | $64,240 |
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 Indiana | $51,931 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $53,797 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$974 |
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 | $61,918 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,177 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 92 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Indiana earn less than $64,240. The published range is $51,350 up to $80,600, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Indiana's $51,931, worked from $64,240. 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 175 of 493.
- One number stands for prices across all of Indiana, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $56,334, the adjusted value of that $64,240 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 175 of 493 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for surgical technologists in Indiana the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $51,350 to $80,600. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The Indiana take-home of $51,931, on $64,240 for work ranking 175 of 493 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 175 of 493 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Indiana, so $56,334 — the adjusted value of that $64,240 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 175 of 493 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
No — it is the middle. Half of these workers earn more and half earn less. The average is $66,930, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $51,350 at the tenth percentile, $80,600 at the ninetieth.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in Indiana sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $56,334 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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 Indiana's own levy, $51,931 remains.
Can I compare this job across every state?
Yes for this one. Pay is published in all 51 jurisdictions, so a state-to-state comparison here rests on the same survey everywhere rather than on a patchwork.
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 Indiana is $66,930. 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 ($51,350 to $80,600) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Indiana rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Indiana'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 $56,334 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 $51,931 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Indiana 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.
Is this occupation's state coverage complete?
State-level estimates are published for all 51 jurisdictions for this occupation, so cross-state comparison is not confounded by suppression. ⚠️ Estimates remain survey-based and carry sampling error; small differences between adjacent states should not be over-read.