These Are The 10 States With The Highest Draftsperson Salaries For 2017

By Chris Kolmar
Feb. 1, 2018

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Without fail, in surveys across basically every demographic, the number one most important aspect of a job for most people is the salary — how much do draftspeople get paid where I live?

And while there are many things to go into how much you, specifically, can expect to make, there’s really good data for average salaries for draftspeople by state across America broken down by seniority level. So while your city may be slightly different than the state average, these averages give you a rough sense of what to expect for your salary.

To better understand how salaries change across America, we decided to take a look the most recent data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics on average pay for draftspeople by state.

Additionally, we wanted to adjust the salary based on the cost of living in a state — because your salary goes further in North Carolina than it does in California.

The state with the best salary for draftspeople after this adjustment? That would be Architectural And Civil Drafters.

Here’s a quick snapshot of the top ten states for salaries:

  1. Texas
  2. Louisiana
  3. Tennessee
  4. Illinois
  5. Georgia
  6. Oklahoma
  7. Indiana
  8. Arizona
  9. Alabama
  10. Iowa

Let’s take a look at how we got here and a full ranking of all the states.

If you’re interested, you can read more about the job scene here:

How we determined pay by state

As we mentioned earlier, we took the average annual salary data for draftspeople from the 2016 Bureau of Labor Statistics — specifically their ‘Occupational Employment Statistics.’

To make the comparison of salaries apples to apples across states, we also took into account the cost of living in each state.

We then created an index by dividing the average wage for a state by the cost of living relative to average. As an example, the cost of living index in California is 135.9 and the average pay is $59610, so our index value would be:

$59,610 * (100 / 135.9) = $43,863

We then ranked every state on this criteria with the state with the highest salary index ranking as highest average salary for draftspeople.

Here’s a look at the full ranking for all states.

For more reading, check out:

Detailed List Of Draftsperson Salaries By State

Rank State Adjusted Salary Average Wage Cost Of Living
1 Texas $64,410 $58,420 90.7
2 Louisiana $62,236 $59,000 94.8
3 Tennessee $60,984 $54,520 89.4
4 Illinois $59,133 $55,940 94.6
5 Georgia $58,096 $53,100 91.4
6 Oklahoma $57,197 $51,020 89.2
7 Indiana $56,871 $50,900 89.5
8 Arizona $56,724 $55,590 98.0
9 Alabama $55,581 $50,690 91.2
10 Iowa $55,439 $50,450 91.0
11 Mississippi $55,389 $47,580 85.9
12 Utah $55,053 $51,200 93.0
13 Wyoming $54,825 $50,330 91.8
14 Missouri $54,303 $49,090 90.4
15 Washington $53,726 $56,520 105.2
16 West Virginia $53,618 $50,080 93.4
17 North Carolina $53,567 $50,300 93.9
18 Delaware $53,530 $54,280 101.4
19 Ohio $53,358 $50,050 93.8
20 Arkansas $53,283 $46,410 87.1
21 Michigan $52,797 $46,990 89.0
22 Pennsylvania $52,554 $53,290 101.4
23 Minnesota $52,490 $52,910 100.8
24 Colorado $52,418 $54,410 103.8
25 Kansas $52,113 $46,850 89.9
26 New Mexico $51,927 $50,110 96.5
27 Idaho $51,661 $47,580 92.1
28 Kentucky $50,972 $46,130 90.5
29 South Carolina $50,907 $50,500 99.2
30 Nebraska $50,753 $46,490 91.6
31 Virginia $50,734 $51,140 100.8
32 Florida $50,295 $49,440 98.3
33 North Dakota $48,943 $48,650 99.4
34 Nevada $48,906 $50,520 103.3
35 Wisconsin $48,750 $47,190 96.8
36 Connecticut $48,081 $61,400 127.7
37 Maryland $47,872 $60,080 125.5
38 Rhode Island $46,752 $56,430 120.7
39 Alaska $46,720 $61,250 131.1
40 Montana $45,892 $46,260 100.8
41 New Hampshire $44,726 $52,330 117.0
42 Oregon $44,636 $51,600 115.6
43 New Jersey $44,511 $54,260 121.9
44 Maine $44,178 $48,950 110.8
45 California $43,863 $59,610 135.9
46 Massachusetts $43,838 $58,480 133.4
47 New York $43,206 $56,600 131.0
48 Vermont $38,786 $46,970 121.1
49 South Dakota $37,955 $39,360 103.7
50 Hawaii $31,262 $52,490 167.9

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Author

Chris Kolmar

Chris Kolmar is a co-founder of Zippia and the editor-in-chief of the Zippia career advice blog. He has hired over 50 people in his career, been hired five times, and wants to help you land your next job. His research has been featured on the New York Times, Thrillist, VOX, The Atlantic, and a host of local news. More recently, he's been quoted on USA Today, BusinessInsider, and CNBC.

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Topics: Rankings