Animal Caretakers in New York
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$31,138
after federal, FICA and New York tax
Tax takes
$6,702
17.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$28,932
New York costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in New York — 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
$37,840
Kept after tax
$31,138
Worth in national money
$28,932
State rank
7
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. New York pays animal caretakers a middle wage of $37,840, ranking 7 of 51 states and sitting about 7.01% above the national middle.
- Within New York this is lower-paid work. Of 493 occupations the state publishes figures for, animal caretakers ranks 468. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- New York is an expensive state, and the adjusted figure shows it. From $37,840 the take-home is $31,138; in national-average money that behaves like $28,932. The average comes to $40,540, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- New York's median for animal caretakers is $37,840, about 7.01% above the national figure and 7 of 51 states reporting. Whether that premium reaches the worker depends on the two adjustments below, which is the part a wage table cannot tell you.
- Against every occupation New York reports, animal caretakers ranks 468 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.
- Take-home for animal caretakers in New York, on $37,840, is $31,138; deflated by the state's price level, $28,932. ⚠️ The deflator is statewide, so it understates the erosion in the state's metropolitan areas and overstates it outside them. At $40,540 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Animal Caretakers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $33,800 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $37,840 |
| Top tenth earn over | $48,740 |
| This salary | $37,840 |
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 New York | $31,138 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $32,584 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$4,600 |
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 | $36,040 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$5,563 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 108 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $37,840 as a midpoint for New York, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $33,800 and the ninetieth is $48,740 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $31,138 take-home in New York comes from $37,840. 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 468 of 493.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $28,932 uses one figure for the whole of New York. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 493 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 468.
- The New York median of $37,840 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $33,800 to $48,740. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Retained pay of $31,138, from $37,840, assumes a single New York 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 468 of 493 locally, and the state ranks 7 of 51 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $28,932, worked from $37,840, deflates by a statewide parity that conceals substantial intra-state variation, concentrated in housing — so it supports comparison between states rather than the pricing of a move to a particular New York address, on work sitting at 468 of 493 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
Half earn more than this and half earn less. The average sits at $40,540 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $33,800 at the tenth percentile, $48,740 at the ninetieth.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
A larger wage in a dearer place is not automatically more. Adjusted for local prices, this pay behaves like $28,932 of national purchasing power.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Into four separate taxes, not one. Federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare apply everywhere, and New York adds its own income tax on top — which is why $31,138 of this wage survives to your account.
Can I compare this job across every state?
This occupation is published everywhere — all 51 of them — so comparing states measures real differences rather than gaps in the data.
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 New York is $40,540. 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 ($33,800 to $48,740) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to New York rather than a national figure.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
New York's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $28,932 in national-average terms. ⚠️ RPPs are an all-items index; housing parities vary far more widely than the headline figure.
What accounts for the gap between gross wage and take-home here?
Take-home of $31,138 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and New York 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.