Animal Caretakers in Oregon
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$28,921
after federal, FICA and Oregon tax
Tax takes
$7,659
20.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$27,618
Oregon costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Oregon — 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
$36,580
Kept after tax
$28,921
Worth in national money
$27,618
State rank
14
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. Oregon pays animal caretakers a middle wage of $36,580, ranking 14 of 51 states and sitting about 3.45% above the national middle.
- Within Oregon this is lower-paid work. Of 489 occupations the state publishes figures for, animal caretakers ranks 476. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Costs eat into it here. Of $36,580, tax leaves $28,921 — and because Oregon is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $27,618 would nationally. Averages run higher here, $40,380, since top earners drag the number up.
- Oregon's median for animal caretakers is $36,580, about 3.45% above the national figure and 14 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 Oregon reports, animal caretakers ranks 476 of 489, 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.
- After tax, $28,921 remains from the Oregon median of $36,580 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $27,618 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $40,380 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Animal Caretakers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $33,510 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $36,580 |
| Top tenth earn over | $54,510 |
| This salary | $36,580 |
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 Oregon | $28,921 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $31,572 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$4,872 |
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 | $33,281 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$5,892 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 105 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $36,580 as a midpoint for Oregon, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $33,510 and the ninetieth is $54,510 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $28,921 take-home in Oregon comes from $36,580. 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 489.
- One number stands for prices across all of Oregon, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $27,618, the adjusted value of that $36,580 median, as a way to compare states fairly, not as a quote for any particular place. The two datasets are also from different years. This job sits at 476 of 489 in the state.
- The Oregon median of $36,580 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $33,510 to $54,510. 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 $28,921, from $36,580, assumes a single Oregon 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 489 locally, and the state ranks 14 of 51 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Oregon, so $27,618 — the adjusted value of that $36,580 median — establishes comparability between states rather than accuracy within one. The wage and parity series are dated independently, each following its own publication cycle, and neither is projected forward. This occupation sits at 476 of 489 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $40,380, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $33,510 at the bottom tenth to $54,510 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
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 $27,618 of national purchasing power.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Three of them are federal and one is not. After income tax, Social Security, Medicare and Oregon's own levy, $28,921 remains.
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 Oregon is $40,380. 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 ($33,510 to $54,510) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Oregon rather than a national figure.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
Oregon's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $27,618 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 $28,921 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Oregon 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.