Animal Caretakers in Vermont
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$30,226
after federal, FICA and Vermont tax
Tax takes
$5,864
16.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$31,278
Vermont costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Vermont — 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
$36,090
Kept after tax
$30,226
Worth in national money
$31,278
State rank
16
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Vermont is one of the better-paying states for animal caretakers. The middle earner takes $36,090, which ranks 16 of 51 states with published figures. That is about 2.06% above the national middle.
- Against 453 occupations Vermont publishes, animal caretakers lands at 441. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $36,090 you keep $30,226 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $31,278 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $38,460, since top earners drag the number up.
- Vermont ranks 16 of 51 states publishing a median for animal caretakers, at $36,090 — about 2.06% above the national median. A state's position on nominal pay is the figure wage tables report and the least informative of the three on this page, because it survives neither the tax adjustment nor the price adjustment intact for most occupations.
- Within Vermont, this work ranks 441 of 453 occupations by median pay, in the bottom quartile. The within-state position is the more salient one for anyone weighing this job against alternatives available to them locally.
- Retained pay in Vermont is $30,226 after the full tax stack, from $36,090. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $31,278 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $38,460 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 | $31,990 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $36,090 |
| Top tenth earn over | $47,360 |
| This salary | $36,090 |
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 Vermont | $30,226 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $31,178 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$807 |
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 | $34,904 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$976 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 97 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Vermont earn less than $36,090. The published range is $31,990 up to $47,360, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Vermont's $30,226, worked from $36,090. That is on purpose. It lets states be compared with each other, not with each other's family circumstances. Local city taxes are left out. Locally this work ranks 441 of 453.
- One number stands for prices across all of Vermont, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $31,278, the adjusted value of that $36,090 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 441 of 453 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for animal caretakers in Vermont the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $31,990 to $47,360. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The Vermont take-home of $30,226, on $36,090 for work ranking 441 of 453 locally, models the simplest household deliberately: holding it constant is what makes the interstate comparison meaningful. It also means the absolute figure overstates liability for most real filers, and municipal income taxes are outside the model entirely. The occupation ranks 441 of 453 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Vermont, so $31,278 — the adjusted value of that $36,090 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 441 of 453 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $38,460, 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 $31,990 at the bottom tenth to $47,360 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
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 $31,278.
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 Vermont adds its own income tax on top — which is why $30,226 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 Vermont is $38,460. 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 ($31,990 to $47,360) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Vermont rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Vermont'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 $31,278 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 $30,226 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Vermont 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.