Average salary in North Dakota: $64,050 a year
The mean annual wage across every job BLS counts in North Dakota, with the median, the pay spread, the job groups and the occupations behind it.
The average salary in North Dakota is $64,050 a year ($30.79 an hour): that is the mean annual wage across 429,430 jobs in the BLS May 2025 survey. The median is $52,480 ($25.23 an hour), so half of those jobs paid less and half paid more. The mean sits above the median because a smaller number of very high wages pulls it up.
How North Dakota compares with the United States
North Dakota's mean salary is $5,720 (8.2%) below the U.S. figure of $69,770; its median is $1,500 (2.9%) above the U.S. figure of $50,980. Among the 50 states and DC, North Dakota ranks 31st by mean salary and 18th by median salary (1 = highest; calculated from the BLS figures).
| Measure | North Dakota | United States |
|---|---|---|
| Mean (average) salary | $64,050 | $69,770 |
| Median salary | $52,480 | $50,980 |
| Mean hourly wage | $30.79 | $33.54 |
| Median hourly wage | $25.23 | $24.51 |
| Jobs counted | 429,430 | 155,495,730 |
Prices matter as much as pay. BEA's regional price parity for North Dakota in 2024 is 89.0, where the United States = 100: overall prices there were about 11.0% below the national price level. A salary goes further where the index is lower.
What jobs in North Dakota pay, from low to high
One job in ten in North Dakota paid less than $31,330 a year, and one in ten paid more than $103,160. A quarter paid less than $38,600; a quarter paid more than $75,810.
| Area | 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| North Dakota | $31,330 | $38,600 | $52,480 | $75,810 | $103,160 |
| United States | $31,200 | $37,590 | $50,980 | $80,520 | $128,560 |
Pay by job group in North Dakota
The largest group in North Dakota is office and administrative support, with 45,080 jobs (10% of the total, calculated). The best-paid group by median is management ($103,440); the lowest-paid is personal care and service ($33,430). Where BLS does not release a figure, the table says so.
| Job group | Jobs | Median salary | Mean (average) salary |
|---|---|---|---|
| Office and Administrative Support | 45,080 | $48,050 | $51,030 |
| Transportation and Material Moving | 42,960 | $49,190 | $54,780 |
| Sales and Related | 36,780 | $37,840 | $51,300 |
| Food Preparation and Serving Related | 35,690 | $34,040 | $35,050 |
| Construction and Extraction | 34,720 | $61,180 | $66,820 |
| Healthcare Practitioners and Technical | 30,480 | $79,920 | $105,420 |
| Management | 26,920 | $103,440 | $118,980 |
| Educational Instruction and Library | 25,050 | $55,140 | $59,030 |
| Production | 23,910 | $50,750 | $58,080 |
| Installation, Maintenance, and Repair | 22,760 | $61,990 | $68,580 |
| Business and Financial Operations | 22,100 | $76,870 | $82,170 |
| Healthcare Support | 18,000 | $44,240 | $43,890 |
| Building and Grounds Cleaning and Maintenance | 13,120 | $37,950 | $41,640 |
| Personal Care and Service | 11,840 | $33,430 | $36,570 |
| Protective Service | 7,990 | $58,350 | $59,970 |
| Computer and Mathematical | 6,920 | $81,970 | $88,360 |
| Community and Social Service | 6,360 | $60,640 | $61,900 |
| Architecture and Engineering | 6,030 | $85,170 | $92,820 |
| Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media | 4,940 | $49,080 | $57,650 |
| Life, Physical, and Social Science | 4,630 | $71,750 | $79,400 |
| Legal | 2,170 | $81,110 | $100,410 |
| Farming, Fishing, and Forestry | 980 | $46,450 | $47,770 |
The occupations with the most jobs in North Dakota
9 of the 12 largest occupations in North Dakota with a published annual median paid a median below the all-jobs median of $52,480 (calculated from the BLS figures).
| Occupation | Jobs | Median salary |
|---|---|---|
| Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers | 11,870 | $60,910 |
| Fast Food and Counter Workers | 11,470 | $30,080 |
| Registered Nurses | 11,340 | $80,730 |
| Retail Salespersons | 11,320 | $36,040 |
| General and Operations Managers | 11,150 | $98,170 |
| Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand | 9,990 | $45,690 |
| Cashiers | 9,510 | $31,460 |
| Office Clerks, General | 8,440 | $50,160 |
| Home Health and Personal Care Aides | 7,730 | $39,440 |
| Nursing Assistants | 6,840 | $45,820 |
| Janitors and Cleaners, Except Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners | 6,720 | $37,750 |
| Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive | 5,800 | $47,480 |
Go deeper
The best-paid occupations, ranked.
Open →Pay floorNorth Dakota minimum wageThe state's hourly floor.
Open →PricesCost of living in North DakotaWhat a salary buys there.
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How this page is built
Every pay figure is a BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2025 estimate for all occupations in North Dakota (occupation code 00-0000), copied from BLS's data file; the job-group and occupation rows come from the same file. The average is BLS's mean wage (total wages divided by jobs); the median is the wage in the middle. OEWS wages are straight-time gross pay: they include commissions, tips, production bonuses and cost-of-living allowances, and leave out overtime premiums, shift differentials, nonproduction bonuses and benefits. BLS turns hourly wages into annual ones at 2,080 hours (40 hours for 52 weeks). Ranks, differences and shares are TryHired calculations from the BLS figures. Price levels are BEA Regional Price Parities.
- Household income: this page reports pay per job, not household or family income, which the Census Bureau measures differently.
- Starting pay: the figures include experienced workers. Entry-level pay is usually lower.
- Take-home pay: every figure is before taxes and deductions.
- Self-employment and farm work: not covered by OEWS (see the FAQ).
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025 estimates: national, state and metropolitan-area data files (public domain).
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS technical notes: what the survey counts as wages and jobs.
- U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, Regional Price Parities, 2024 (released Feb 19, 2026).