Surveyors in Idaho
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$57,781
after federal, FICA and Idaho tax
Tax takes
$16,159
21.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$63,201
Idaho costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Idaho — 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
$73,940
Kept after tax
$57,781
Worth in national money
$63,201
State rank
30
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. Idaho is 30 of 50 states for surveyors, with a middle wage of $73,940. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. Surveyors ranks 126 among 476 occupations Idaho publishes pay for.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $73,940 you keep $57,781 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $63,201 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $78,680, since top earners drag the number up.
- Idaho ranks 30 of 50 for surveyors at $73,940. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- Position 126 of 476 in Idaho places surveyors in the middle of the state's wage distribution. Because within-state and cross-state rankings measure different things, this figure and the national one above should be read together rather than as a single verdict.
- Retained pay in Idaho is $57,781 after the full tax stack, from $73,940. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $63,201 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $78,680 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Surveyors
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $46,500 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $73,940 |
| Top tenth earn over | $113,400 |
| This salary | $73,940 |
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 Idaho | $57,781 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $60,847 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$585 |
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 | $69,582 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$808 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 91 |
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 surveyors in Idaho earn under $73,940 and half over. The published range runs $46,500 at the tenth percentile to $113,400 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $57,781 take-home in Idaho comes from $73,940. It is the no-frills case: single filer, standard deduction, nothing set aside before tax. Real circumstances almost always reduce the tax. City and school-district taxes are not counted at all. Locally the work ranks 126 of 476.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $63,201 uses one figure for the whole of Idaho. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 476 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 126.
- Figures are distribution medians for surveyors in Idaho, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $46,500 to $113,400; 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.
- Retained pay of $57,781, from $73,940, assumes a single Idaho filer with the standard deduction and no elective deferrals. Pre-tax retirement or HSA contributions, dependants and itemized deductions all reduce it further; local income taxes, excluded here, would increase it in the states that levy them. This occupation ranks 126 of 476 locally, and the state ranks 30 of 50 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $63,201, worked from $73,940, deflates by a statewide parity that conceals substantial intra-state variation, concentrated in housing — so it supports comparison between states rather than the pricing of a move to a particular Idaho address, on work sitting at 126 of 476 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $78,680, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $46,500 and the top tenth $113,400 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in Idaho sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $63,201 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 Idaho's own levy, $57,781 remains.
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 Idaho is $78,680. 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 ($46,500) and the ninetieth ($113,400) 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?
Idaho'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 $63,201 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 $57,781 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Idaho 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.