Animal Caretakers in Utah
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$28,555
after federal, FICA and Utah tax
Tax takes
$6,195
17.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$30,058
Utah costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Utah — 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
$34,750
Kept after tax
$28,555
Worth in national money
$30,058
State rank
20
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. Utah is 20 of 51 states for animal caretakers, with a middle wage of $34,750. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- Within Utah this is lower-paid work. Of 487 occupations the state publishes figures for, animal caretakers ranks 461. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Utah is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $34,750 the take-home is $28,555; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $30,058 would nationally. The average comes to $37,600, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Utah ranks 20 of 51 for animal caretakers at $34,750. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- Against every occupation Utah reports, animal caretakers ranks 461 of 487, 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.
- Post-tax income for animal caretakers in Utah, on $34,750, is $28,555 — equivalent to $30,058 once regional price parity is applied. ⚠️ The adjustment uses a statewide index that describes no particular address; within-state price variation, concentrated in housing, routinely exceeds the difference between two states. At $37,600 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 | $26,310 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $34,750 |
| Top tenth earn over | $56,730 |
| This salary | $34,750 |
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 Utah | $28,555 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $30,102 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$919 |
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 | $32,825 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$1,112 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 95 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $34,750 as a midpoint for Utah, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $26,310 and the ninetieth is $56,730 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $28,555 take-home in Utah comes from $34,750. 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 461 of 487.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $30,058 uses one figure for the whole of Utah. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 487 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 461.
- The Utah median of $34,750 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $26,310 to $56,730. 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 $28,555, from $34,750, assumes a single Utah 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 461 of 487 locally, and the state ranks 20 of 51 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $30,058, worked from $34,750, 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 Utah address, on work sitting at 461 of 487 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 $37,600, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $26,310, the highest tenth $56,730, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
A smaller wage in a cheaper place is not automatically less. Adjusted for local prices, this is worth $30,058.
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; Utah then takes its own share, leaving $28,555.
Can I compare this job across every state?
All 51 jurisdictions report this work, which makes the ranking a like-for-like one.
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 Utah is $37,600. 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 drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($26,310) and the ninetieth ($56,730) exceeds the family median dispersion. SOC codes aggregate roles differing in seniority, industry and specialisation, and BLS does not disaggregate below the detailed occupation level, so within-title variance is not separable from the published series.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Utah'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 $30,058 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 $28,555 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Utah 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.