Surveyors in Wisconsin
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$61,590
after federal, FICA and Wisconsin tax
Tax takes
$18,060
22.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$66,157
Wisconsin costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Wisconsin — 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
$79,650
Kept after tax
$61,590
Worth in national money
$66,157
State rank
14
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Wisconsin is one of the better-paying states for surveyors. The middle earner takes $79,650, which ranks 14 of 50 states with published figures. That is about 5.58% above the national middle.
- Locally, this pays well. Among 491 occupations Wisconsin reports, surveyors comes in at 120 — comfortably in the upper quarter.
- Here is where Wisconsin does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $79,650 you keep $61,590, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $66,157 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $84,980, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Wisconsin ranks 14 of 50 states publishing a median for surveyors, at $79,650 — about 5.58% above the national median. A state's position on nominal pay is the figure wage tables report and the least informative of the three on this page, because it survives neither the tax adjustment nor the price adjustment intact for most occupations.
- Surveyors ranks 120 of 491 occupations by median in Wisconsin, in the top quartile. Within-state position is largely independent of national position, so this holds regardless of how the state compares to others for the same work.
- After federal, FICA and Wisconsin income tax, retained pay for surveyors on $79,650 is $61,590. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $66,157 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 $84,980 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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Pay band: Surveyors
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $57,510 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $79,650 |
| Top tenth earn over | $118,850 |
| This salary | $79,650 |
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 Wisconsin | $61,590 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $64,864 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$593 |
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 | $74,996 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$819 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 93 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Wisconsin earn less than $79,650. The published range is $57,510 up to $118,850, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- In Wisconsin the take-home figure of $61,590, from $79,650, 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 120 of 491 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $66,157, the adjusted value of that $79,650 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Wisconsin. 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 120 of 491 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for surveyors in Wisconsin the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $57,510 to $118,850. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Take-home for Wisconsin is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $61,590 from $79,650. 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 120 of 491 locally.
- This $66,157 adjusted figure, worked from $79,650, 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 120 of 491 in the state. The occupation ranks 120 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 $84,980 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 $57,510 at the bottom tenth to $118,850 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in Wisconsin sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $66,157 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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 Wisconsin adds its own income tax on top — which is why $61,590 of this wage survives to your account.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 50 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release one.
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 Wisconsin is $84,980. 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 ($57,510) and the ninetieth ($118,850) 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?
Wisconsin'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 $66,157 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 $61,590 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Wisconsin 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.