Animal Trainers in Wisconsin
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$31,044
after federal, FICA and Wisconsin tax
Tax takes
$6,096
16.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$33,346
Wisconsin costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Wisconsin — 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
$37,140
Kept after tax
$31,044
Worth in national money
$33,346
State rank
29
of 47 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. Wisconsin is 29 of 47 states for animal trainers, with a middle wage of $37,140. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- Within Wisconsin this is lower-paid work. Of 491 occupations the state publishes figures for, animal trainers ranks 440. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Here is where Wisconsin does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $37,140 you keep $31,044, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $33,346 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $41,790, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Wisconsin ranks 29 of 47 for animal trainers at $37,140. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- Against every occupation Wisconsin reports, animal trainers ranks 440 of 491, 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 federal, FICA and Wisconsin income tax, retained pay for animal trainers on $37,140 is $31,044. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $33,346 in national-average terms. ⚠️ That figure is purchasing power, not a wage, and nobody is paid it; it is what the take-home buys. The mean of $41,790 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Animal Trainers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $29,420 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $37,140 |
| Top tenth earn over | $62,810 |
| This salary | $37,140 |
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 Wisconsin | $31,044 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $32,022 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$393 |
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 | $35,923 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$476 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 93 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Wisconsin earn less than $37,140. The published range is $29,420 up to $62,810, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- In Wisconsin the take-home figure of $31,044, from $37,140, assumes one filer, no dependants, and nothing paid into a pension before tax. Each of those lowers the bill, so treat it as the plain case. City and school-district income taxes are not included either, and in a few states those are real money. It ranks 440 of 491 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $33,346, the adjusted value of that $37,140 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Wisconsin. 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 440 of 491 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for animal trainers in Wisconsin the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $29,420 to $62,810. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Take-home for Wisconsin is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $31,044 from $37,140. Each omitted item reduces taxable income, so the figure is a lower bound on retained pay for this household shape. Municipal and school-district income taxes are excluded, which understates the burden materially in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The occupation ranks 440 of 491 locally.
- This $33,346 adjusted figure, worked from $37,140, 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 440 of 491 in the state. The occupation ranks 440 of 491 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 $41,790, 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?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $29,420 and the top tenth $62,810 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in Wisconsin sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $33,346 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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 Wisconsin's own levy, $31,044 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 47 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release 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 Wisconsin is $41,790. 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 ($29,420) and the ninetieth ($62,810) 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?
Wisconsin'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 $33,346 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 $31,044 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Wisconsin 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.
Why does this occupation lack published estimates in every state?
BLS suppresses estimates failing disclosure or reliability criteria. This occupation has published state-level estimates in 47 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.