Tour and Travel Guides in North Dakota
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$30,592
after federal, FICA and North Dakota tax
Tax takes
$4,768
13.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$34,539
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
$35,360
Kept after tax
$30,592
Worth in national money
$34,539
State rank
29
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. North Dakota pays tour and travel guides around $35,360 at the midpoint, 29 of 50 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Against 460 occupations North Dakota publishes, tour and travel guides lands at 433. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- North Dakota is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $35,360 the take-home is $30,592; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $34,539 would nationally. The average comes to $39,410, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For tour and travel guides the North Dakota median is $35,360, ranking 29 of 50 states reporting. Mid-band nominal positions are the ones most frequently reordered by the adjustments, because no large wage premium exists to absorb a state's tax or price level.
- Within North Dakota, this work ranks 433 of 460 occupations by median pay, in the bottom quartile. The within-state position is the more salient one for anyone weighing this job against alternatives available to them locally.
- Post-tax income for tour and travel guides in North Dakota, on $35,360, is $30,592 — equivalent to $34,539 once regional price parity is applied. ⚠️ The adjustment uses a statewide index that describes no particular address; within-state price variation, concentrated in housing, routinely exceeds the difference between two states. At $39,410 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
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Pay band: Tour and Travel Guides
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $32,610 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $35,360 |
| Top tenth earn over | $47,840 |
| This salary | $35,360 |
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 | $30,592 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $30,592 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$3,058 |
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 | $35,360 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$3,698 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 89 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in North Dakota earn less than $35,360. The published range is $32,610 up to $47,840, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- In North Dakota the take-home figure of $30,592, from $35,360, 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 460 occupations here.
- One number stands for prices across all of North Dakota, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $34,539, the adjusted value of that $35,360 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 433 of 460 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for tour and travel guides in North Dakota the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $32,610 to $47,840. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Take-home for North Dakota is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $30,592 from $35,360. 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 460 locally.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for North Dakota, so $34,539 — the adjusted value of that $35,360 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 433 of 460 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 $39,410, 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?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $32,610 and the top tenth $47,840, 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 $34,539.
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 $30,592 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 $39,410. 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 ($32,610 to $47,840) 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 $34,539 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 $30,592 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.