Drafters, All Other salary

SOC 17-3019 · BLS OEWS May 2025

Median

$63,520

per year, nationally

Middle half

$51,650–$79,700

25th to 75th percentile

Employed

14,470

in the U.S.

Growth 2024–34

-6.9%

1,300 openings/yr

What the range looks like

A single median hides most of what a job pays. The bar below is the full national range: the wash spans the 10th to 90th percentile, the solid bar is the middle half, and the tick is the median.

$43,420$99,380

10th: $43,420
25th: $51,650
Median: $63,520
75th: $79,700
90th: $99,380

Getting in

Typical education to enter: Associate's degree
Related work experience: None
On-the-job training: None

Entry requirements describe what is typical, not mandatory. Source: BLS Employment Projections, 2024–34.

Where drafters, all other earn the most

Nominal pay and pay adjusted for local prices rank states differently — a high-wage state with high costs can be worse off in real terms than a middling one. Switch between the two below.

The median wage as published, before local prices are taken into account.

#	State	Median	Cost of living	Employed	Concentrationvs. national
1	New Jersey	$77,840	108.8	350	0.88×
2	California	$73,390	110.7	1,750	1.03×
3	Wisconsin	$73,040	94.1	200	0.73×
4	Washington	$72,800	107.0	520	1.57×
5	New York	$72,190	107.9	610	0.68×
6	Massachusetts	$72,100	105.8	170	0.50×
7	New Hampshire	$70,710	104.2	70	1.15×
8	Arizona	$70,070	100.7	430	1.41×
9	Utah	$69,420	98.9	170	1.04×
10	Louisiana	$68,470	88.2	1,200	6.64×
11	Michigan	$67,750	96.2	360	0.87×
12	Mississippi	$67,730	87.0	70	0.63×
13	Colorado	$67,320	103.1	280	1.03×
14	Virginia	$67,220	101.1	170	0.45×
15	Connecticut	$66,620	103.6	140	0.91×
16	Kansas	$66,040	90.1	50	0.36×
17	Minnesota	$63,220	98.6	170	0.62×
18	Montana	$63,200	94.6	280	5.79×
19	Georgia	$62,400	96.3	550	1.22×
20	Nevada	$62,400	100.0	180	1.25×
21	Missouri	$61,990	90.8	400	1.46×
22	South Carolina	$61,250	93.7	60	0.28×
23	Iowa	$60,750	87.8	230	1.59×
24	Texas	$59,990	97.1	2,450	1.87×
25	Florida	$59,970	103.4	670	0.72×
26	Vermont	$59,930	98.0	90	3.13×
27	North Carolina	$59,500	94.3	320	0.69×
28	Oregon	$58,790	103.4	660	3.59×
29	Nebraska	$58,640	90.1	110	1.16×
30	Indiana	$58,600	93.3	50	0.17×
31	Kentucky	$57,930	90.2	50	0.28×
32	Ohio	$57,610	92.8	260	0.49×
33	Idaho	$56,430	95.5	60	0.79×
34	Maryland	$55,640	105.0	160	0.64×
35	Maine	$55,460	97.0	40	0.73×
36	Pennsylvania	$54,240	97.6	250	0.44×
37	Illinois	$53,300	100.0	190	0.33×
38	Oklahoma	$49,920	87.8	40	0.23×
39	Arkansas	$48,020	86.9	100	0.83×
40	Alabama	$47,320	88.8	50	0.24×

Cost of living is the BEA regional price parity for all items, where 100 is the national average. Concentration is the BLS location quotient: how much more of the local workforce does this job than the national average, so 2.00× means twice the national share. It is often the reason wages differ — a place that concentrates an occupation has the employers and the competition for it. States where drafters, all other wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Best paying metro areas for drafters, all other

The 40 highest-paying metros with a published estimate. BLS suppresses roughly half of all occupation-by-metro cells, so a metro absent here has no local figure rather than a low one.

The median wage as published, before local prices are taken into account.

#	Metro area	Median	Cost of living	Employed	Concentrationvs. national
1	San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA	$90,850	110.4	80	0.71×
2	San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA	$82,360	115.6	170	0.79×
3	New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ	$81,220	112.6	550	0.62×
4	Milwaukee-Waukesha, WI	$80,470	96.9	—	—
5	Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI	$79,960	100.3	180	1.04×
6	Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA	$78,020	106.7	100	0.95×
7	Baton Rouge, LA	$77,020	90.8	320	8.34×
8	Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC	$76,330	97.9	50	0.64×
9	Fresno, CA	$75,150	102.2	40	0.85×
10	Providence-Warwick, RI-MA	$75,090	101.8	40	0.55×
11	Boulder, CO	$74,630	105.2	60	3.12×
12	Alexandria, LA	$74,540	85.7	50	9.74×
13	Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH	$74,380	108.3	130	0.52×
14	San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA	$73,880	111.9	140	1.01×
15	Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA	$73,840	113.6	690	1.19×
16	Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, CT	$73,100	102.7	50	0.81×
17	Salt Lake City-Murray, UT	$73,080	100.9	80	1.06×
18	Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA	$72,990	111.1	330	1.68×
19	Missoula, MT	$72,520	96.4	30	4.82×
20	Lake Charles, LA	$71,690	85.9	60	5.99×
21	Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, AZ	$70,320	103.3	330	1.48×
22	Tucson, AZ	$69,810	96.9	50	1.50×
23	Modesto, CA	$68,850	104.1	30	1.71×
24	Syracuse, NY	$68,500	95.7	30	1.19×
25	Memphis, TN-MS-AR	$68,020	92.2	30	0.59×
26	Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin, TN	$67,770	96.3	50	0.53×
27	Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA	$67,670	110.5	40	1.44×
28	Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO	$67,320	105.8	150	1.03×
29	Richmond, VA	$66,710	97.9	30	0.54×
30	Grand Rapids-Wyoming-Kentwood, MI	$66,240	95.5	50	0.91×
31	Stockton-Lodi, CA	$66,010	105.1	40	1.45×
32	New Orleans-Metairie, LA	$65,870	92.6	180	4.40×
33	Billings, MT	$64,490	93.5	40	4.97×
34	Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, TX	$64,490	98.1	240	1.97×
35	Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA	$64,330	106.4	160	1.03×
36	Ogden, UT	$63,780	100.3	30	1.28×
37	Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI	$63,540	104.8	110	0.58×
38	Raleigh-Cary, NC	$63,330	98.2	40	0.60×
39	Bozeman, MT	$63,200	102.5	100	15.01×
40	Des Moines-West Des Moines, IA	$62,840	91.7	70	1.81×

Cost of living is the BEA regional price parity for all items, where 100 is the national average. Concentration is the BLS location quotient: how much more of the local workforce does this job than the national average, so 2.00× means twice the national share. It is often the reason wages differ — a place that concentrates an occupation has the employers and the competition for it. Metro areas where drafters, all other wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Similar occupations

Other jobs in the same field, with what each pays nationally.