Indiana · BLS May 2025

How much do railroad conductors and yardmasters make in Indiana?

Railroad conductors and yardmasters in Indiana earn a median of $81,260 a year ($39.07 an hour), about $5,302 a month after federal, state and FICA tax. Figure from the BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey. The survey counted 1,720 of these jobs in Indiana in May 2025.

Median pay · Indiana

$81,260A year, or $39 an hour.
Take-home a month$5,302After federal, state and FICA tax at 21.7%
Worth at national prices$87,068Prices here sit at 93.3 against 100
Against the nation4.2% aboveNational median $78,000
What railroad conductors and yardmasters earn in Indiana, May 2025
PercentileAnnualHourly
10th percentile1 in 10 earn less$64,240$31
25th percentile$79,220$38
MedianHalf earn more, half less$81,260$39
75th percentile$83,280$40
90th percentile1 in 10 earn more$96,820$47
MeanAll pay divided by all jobs$81,500$39

Wage survey · BLS May 2025

How we got this
  1. Median wage in IndianaBLS OEWS May 2025. Half of the people in this job were paid more than this, half less.$81,260
  2. Median hourly wagePublished separately by BLS, not divided out of the annual figure.$39.07
  3. Take-home after federal, state and FICA tax$5,302 a month at an effective rate of 21.7%.$63,629 a year
  4. Worth at national average pricesPrices in Indiana sit at 93.3 against a national 100 (BEA, 2024).$87,068
  5. Against the national medianThe national median is $78,000.4.2% above
  6. Jobs countedA concentration of 1.8 against the nation's 1.00.1,720
What we assumed
  • Wages are BLS OEWS survey estimates for May 2025, not job postings or offers.
  • OEWS surveys wage and salary workers. The self-employed and business owners are outside it.
  • Take-home assumes one 2026 filer, filing single, taking the standard deduction, with no dependents, pre-tax retirement contributions or local income tax.
  • Regional price parities compare price levels between places in one year. They are not inflation, and they do not adjust for what a household actually buys.
Technical details

Method occupation-wage-v1Data bls-oews-2025-05-v1, us-tax-2026-v1, bea-rpp-2024-v1, census-acs5-2024-v1

What lands in the bank

Tax year 2026 · Interactive

Estimated on the median salary of $81,260 in Indiana, for a single filer taking the standard deduction in 2026. Explore other wage levels and filing statuses below.

$81,260
$60,000$100,000
Filing status:
Gross salary breakdown$81,260
Net 78%
Fed 11%
IN 3%
FICA 8%
Annual take-home$63,629After all taxes
Monthly deposit$5,302Estimated per month
Biweekly paycheck$2,447Every 2 weeks (26/yr)
Effective tax rate21.7%Total tax burden
Federal income tax$9,047 / yr
Indiana state income tax$2,368 / yr
FICA (Social Security & Medicare)$6,216 / yr

Run the numbers on your own pay

Same U.S. tax tables as the rest of the site. Change the salary, state, or filing status.

What $81,260 is worth in Indiana

Prices in Indiana sit at 93.3 against a national average of 100, so $81,260 earned here buys what $87,068 buys at national average prices.

  • Rents. 73.9 against 100, the component that moves most between states.
  • Against local households. The median household in Indiana takes in $71,957, so this occupation's median is 1.13 times that, on one income.
  • How common the job is here. 80% more concentrated in Indiana than in the country as a whole.

Compare two places properly →

Reading the numbers

What stands out for railroad conductors and yardmasters in Indiana

Rents in Indiana index at 73.9 (U.S. = 100) while prices overall index at 93.3, a gap of -19.4 pts. For a renter, housing moves the local cost of living more than anything else.

The top of the pay range is stretched out. Going from the 75th to the 90th percentile adds $13,540, against $2,020 from the median to the 75th. The best-paid 10% of railroad conductors and yardmasters in Indiana make $96,820 or more.

Even the lowest-paid 10% of railroad conductors and yardmasters in Indiana make at least $64,240 a year.

Pay is tightly grouped: the 90th percentile ($96,820) is only 1.5 times the 10th ($64,240), so most railroad conductors and yardmasters here earn within a narrow band.

Common questions

Railroad Conductors and Yardmasters pay in Indiana, answered

How much do railroad conductors and yardmasters make in Indiana?

The median wage for railroad conductors and yardmasters in Indiana is $81,260 a year, or $39.07 an hour.

Half earn more than that and half earn less. The figure comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics occupational wage survey for May 2025.

What is the average Railroad Conductors and Yardmasters salary in Indiana?

BLS’s mean (average) wage for railroad conductors and yardmasters in Indiana is $81,500 a year. The median is $81,260.

The mean sits higher when a smaller group of high earners pulls the average up. For a typical paycheck, the median is the better middle.

What is the hourly pay for railroad conductors and yardmasters in Indiana?

The median hourly wage is $39.07. At a full-time year that lines up with about $81,260 a year.

BLS May 2025; hourly and annual figures come from the same survey.

What is the starting salary for railroad conductors and yardmasters in Indiana?

BLS does not publish starting pay. The closest figure it does publish is the low end of the range: in Indiana, the lowest-paid 10% of railroad conductors and yardmasters earn under $64,240 a year and a quarter earn under $79,220 ($30.88 and $38.09 an hour).

New hires often start somewhere in that band, but the May 2025 survey does not record experience, so read it as a floor to compare an offer against rather than a typical first salary.

What is the salary range for railroad conductors and yardmasters in Indiana?

The overall salary range for railroad conductors and yardmasters in Indiana spans from $64,240 for the bottom 10% to $96,820 for top earners.

The middle 50% earn between $79,220 and $83,280 a year, with the overall median at $81,260.

What is the take-home pay for railroad conductors and yardmasters in Indiana?

On the median wage of $81,260, a single filer taking the 2026 standard deduction keeps an estimated $63,629 a year, or roughly $5,302 a month.

That is after federal, state and FICA tax, an effective rate of 21.7%.

Indiana takes $2,368 of it in state income tax.

How much does railroad conductors and yardmasters make a month in Indiana?

On the median annual salary of $81,260, estimated take-home pay is roughly $5,302 a month after federal, state, and FICA taxes.

For workers paid on a standard biweekly schedule (26 pay periods per year), each paycheck is approximately $2,447 net.

Do railroad conductors and yardmasters earn more in Indiana than in the rest of the country?

Yes. The median in Indiana is 4.2% above the national median of $78,000.

Nominal pay is only half the comparison: prices in Indiana sit at 93.3 against a national 100, so the gap in what the money buys is different from the gap in the salary.

Is $81,260 a good salary in Indiana?

It is 1.13 times the median household income of $71,957. A household often has more than one earner, so a single salary at this level goes further than the ratio alone suggests.

Prices in Indiana run at 93.3 against a national average of 100, with rents at 73.9, so $81,260 here buys about what $87,068 buys at national average prices.

What do the highest-paid railroad conductors and yardmasters earn in Indiana?

The top tenth earn $96,820 a year or more. The 10th-percentile wage is $64,240.

Experience, specialty, employer and the part of Indiana someone works in all move a wage inside that range; the survey reports the spread, not the reason for it.

How many railroad conductors and yardmasters are there in Indiana?

The survey counted 1,720 of these jobs in Indiana for May 2025.

That makes the occupation 80% more concentrated here than in the country as a whole. It counts wage and salary jobs, so the self-employed are outside it.

Sources

Where this data comes from

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