Animal Caretakers in Indiana
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$25,422
after federal, FICA and Indiana tax
Tax takes
$4,568
15.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$27,577
Indiana costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Indiana — 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
$29,990
Kept after tax
$25,422
Worth in national money
$27,577
State rank
43
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Indiana pays animal caretakers a middle wage of $29,990, 43 of 51 states and about 15.19% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Within Indiana this is lower-paid work. Of 493 occupations the state publishes figures for, animal caretakers ranks 476. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $29,990 you keep $25,422 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $27,577 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $31,900, since top earners drag the number up.
- Indiana's $29,990 median for animal caretakers places it 43 of 51 states, about 15.19% 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.
- Against every occupation Indiana reports, animal caretakers ranks 476 of 493, in the lowest quartile of the state's distribution. That position is set by the local labor market and is independent of how the state compares nationally for this work.
- Retained pay in Indiana is $25,422 after the full tax stack, from $29,990. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $27,577 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $31,900 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Animal Caretakers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $22,440 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $29,990 |
| Top tenth earn over | $43,270 |
| This salary | $29,990 |
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 Indiana | $25,422 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $26,277 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$536 |
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 | $28,926 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$649 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 92 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- A median is the middle, not an offer. Half of animal caretakers in Indiana earn under $29,990 and half over. The published range runs $22,440 at the tenth percentile to $43,270 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $25,422 take-home in Indiana comes from $29,990. It is the no-frills case: single filer, standard deduction, nothing set aside before tax. Real circumstances almost always reduce the tax. City and school-district taxes are not counted at all. Locally the work ranks 476 of 493.
- Two cautions on $27,577, the adjusted value of that $29,990 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Indiana. 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 476 of 493 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for animal caretakers in Indiana, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $22,440 to $43,270; within-state dispersion of that width routinely exceeds the dispersion between states, so tenure, employer and metropolitan area predict an individual's pay better than geography does.
- Retained pay of $25,422, from $29,990, assumes a single Indiana filer with the standard deduction and no elective deferrals. Pre-tax retirement or HSA contributions, dependants and itemized deductions all reduce it further; local income taxes, excluded here, would increase it in the states that levy them. This occupation ranks 476 of 493 locally, and the state ranks 43 of 51 for it.
- This $27,577 adjusted figure, worked from $29,990, 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 476 of 493 in the state. The occupation ranks 476 of 493 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 $31,900, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $22,440 at the bottom tenth to $43,270 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Indiana is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $27,577 in national terms.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Four deductions, stacked. The federal layer and the two payroll taxes apply wherever you work; Indiana then takes its own share, leaving $25,422.
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 Indiana is $31,900. 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 is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($22,440 to $43,270) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Indiana rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Indiana'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 $27,577 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 $25,422 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Indiana 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.