Travel Agents in North Dakota
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$38,129
after federal, FICA and North Dakota tax
Tax takes
$6,611
14.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$43,048
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
$44,740
Kept after tax
$38,129
Worth in national money
$43,048
State rank
43
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. North Dakota pays travel agents a middle wage of $44,740, 43 of 49 states and about 10.81% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Within North Dakota this is lower-paid work. Of 460 occupations the state publishes figures for, travel agents ranks 372. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $44,740 you keep $38,129 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $43,048 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $48,690, since top earners drag the number up.
- North Dakota's $44,740 median for travel agents places it 43 of 49 states, about 10.81% 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 North Dakota reports, travel agents ranks 372 of 460, 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 North Dakota is $38,129 after the full tax stack, from $44,740. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $43,048 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $48,690 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Travel Agents
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $34,920 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $44,740 |
| Top tenth earn over | $75,440 |
| This salary | $44,740 |
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 | $38,129 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $38,129 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$3,811 |
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 | $44,740 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$4,609 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 89 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $44,740 as a midpoint for North Dakota, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $34,920 and the ninetieth is $75,440 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind North Dakota's $38,129, worked from $44,740. 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 372 of 460.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $43,048 uses one figure for the whole of North Dakota. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 460 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 372.
- The North Dakota median of $44,740 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $34,920 to $75,440. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- The North Dakota take-home of $38,129, on $44,740 for work ranking 372 of 460 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 372 of 460 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $43,048, worked from $44,740, 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 North Dakota address, on work sitting at 372 of 460 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 $48,690 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 $34,920 at the bottom tenth to $75,440 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. North Dakota is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $43,048 in national terms.
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 North Dakota's own levy, $38,129 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 49 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 North Dakota is $48,690. 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 ($34,920) and the ninetieth ($75,440) 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?
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 $43,048 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 $38,129 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 49 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.