Switchboard Operators, Including Answering Service in Indiana
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$30,739
after federal, FICA and Indiana tax
Tax takes
$6,121
16.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$33,345
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
$36,860
Kept after tax
$30,739
Worth in national money
$33,345
State rank
33
of 46 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Indiana pays this job a middle wage of $36,860, 33 of 46 states and about 4.58% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Within Indiana this is lower-paid work. Of 493 occupations the state publishes figures for, this job ranks 433. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $36,860 you keep $30,739 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $33,345 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $39,300, since top earners drag the number up.
- Indiana's $36,860 median for switchboard operators, including answering service places it 33 of 46 states, about 4.58% below national. Because both the tax and price adjustments tend to favor lower-nominal states, this ranking is the least stable of the three reported here.
- Against every occupation Indiana reports, switchboard operators, including answering service ranks 433 of 493, in the lowest quartile of the state's distribution. That position is set by the local labor market and is independent of how the state compares nationally for this work.
- Retained pay in Indiana is $30,739 after the full tax stack, from $36,860. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $33,345 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $39,300 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Switchboard Operators, Including Answering Service
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $28,220 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $36,860 |
| Top tenth earn over | $56,540 |
| This salary | $36,860 |
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 | $30,739 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $31,797 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$624 |
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 | $35,543 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$755 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 92 |
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 switchboard operators, including answering service in Indiana earn under $36,860 and half over. The published range runs $28,220 at the tenth percentile to $56,540 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In Indiana the take-home figure of $30,739, from $36,860, 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 433 of 493 occupations here.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $33,345 uses one figure for the whole of Indiana. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 493 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 433.
- Figures are distribution medians for switchboard operators, including answering service in Indiana, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $28,220 to $56,540; 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 Indiana is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $30,739 from $36,860. 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 433 of 493 locally.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $33,345, worked from $36,860, 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 Indiana address, on work sitting at 433 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 $39,300, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $28,220 and the top tenth $56,540 — 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 Indiana sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $33,345 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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; Indiana then takes its own share, leaving $30,739.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 46 states here, and a missing state means too few reports, not no jobs.
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 $39,300. 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 ($28,220) and the ninetieth ($56,540) 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?
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 $33,345 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 $30,739 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.
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 46 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.