Urban and Regional Planners in North Dakota
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$63,783
after federal, FICA and North Dakota tax
Tax takes
$14,717
18.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$72,013
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
$78,500
Kept after tax
$63,783
Worth in national money
$72,013
State rank
36
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. North Dakota pays urban and regional planners a middle wage of $78,500, 36 of 51 states and about 12.11% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Locally, this pays well. Among 460 occupations North Dakota reports, urban and regional planners comes in at 111 — comfortably in the upper quarter.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $78,500 you keep $63,783 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $72,013 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $87,730, since top earners drag the number up.
- North Dakota's $78,500 median for urban and regional planners places it 36 of 51 states, about 12.11% 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.
- Urban and regional planners ranks 111 of 460 occupations by median in North Dakota, 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.
- Retained pay in North Dakota is $63,783 after the full tax stack, from $78,500. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $72,013 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $87,730 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Urban and Regional Planners
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $61,070 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $78,500 |
| Top tenth earn over | $129,930 |
| This salary | $78,500 |
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 | $63,783 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $64,055 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$6,096 |
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 | $78,114 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$8,420 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 89 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $78,500 as a midpoint for North Dakota, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $61,070 and the ninetieth is $129,930 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In North Dakota the take-home figure of $63,783, from $78,500, 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 111 of 460 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $72,013, the adjusted value of that $78,500 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of North Dakota. 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 111 of 460 locally.
- The North Dakota median of $78,500 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $61,070 to $129,930. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Take-home for North Dakota is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $63,783 from $78,500. 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 111 of 460 locally.
- This $72,013 adjusted figure, worked from $78,500, 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 111 of 460 in the state. The occupation ranks 111 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 $87,730, 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?
The label is broader than the work. From $61,070 at the bottom tenth to $129,930 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 $72,013 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, $63,783 remains.
Can I compare this job across every state?
Yes for this one. Pay is published in all 51 jurisdictions, so a state-to-state comparison here rests on the same survey everywhere rather than on a patchwork.
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 $87,730. 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 ($61,070) and the ninetieth ($129,930) 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 $72,013 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 $63,783 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.
Is this occupation's state coverage complete?
State-level estimates are published for all 51 jurisdictions for this occupation, so cross-state comparison is not confounded by suppression. ⚠️ Estimates remain survey-based and carry sampling error; small differences between adjacent states should not be over-read.