Athletic Trainers in North Carolina
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$45,863
after federal, FICA and North Carolina tax
Tax takes
$10,677
18.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$48,718
North Carolina costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in North Carolina — 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
$56,540
Kept after tax
$45,863
Worth in national money
$48,718
State rank
47
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. North Carolina pays athletic trainers a middle wage of $56,540, 47 of 50 states and about 9.56% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. Athletic trainers ranks 243 among 489 occupations North Carolina publishes pay for.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $56,540 you keep $45,863 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $48,718 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $59,800, since top earners drag the number up.
- North Carolina's $56,540 median for athletic trainers places it 47 of 50 states, about 9.56% below national. Because both the tax and price adjustments tend to favor lower-nominal states, this ranking is the least stable of the three reported here.
- Position 243 of 489 in North Carolina places athletic trainers in the middle of the state's wage distribution. Because within-state and cross-state rankings measure different things, this figure and the national one above should be read together rather than as a single verdict.
- Retained pay in North Carolina is $45,863 after the full tax stack, from $56,540. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $48,718 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $59,800 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Athletic Trainers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $46,740 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $56,540 |
| Top tenth earn over | $77,000 |
| This salary | $56,540 |
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 North Carolina | $45,863 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $47,610 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$276 |
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 | $54,365 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$334 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 94 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $56,540 as a midpoint for North Carolina, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $46,740 and the ninetieth is $77,000 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In North Carolina the take-home figure of $45,863, from $56,540, 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 243 of 489 occupations here.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $48,718 uses one figure for the whole of North Carolina. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 489 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 243.
- The North Carolina median of $56,540 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $46,740 to $77,000. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Take-home for North Carolina is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $45,863 from $56,540. 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 243 of 489 locally.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $48,718, worked from $56,540, 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 North Carolina address, on work sitting at 243 of 489 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 $59,800 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 — $46,740 at the tenth percentile, $77,000 at the ninetieth.
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 $48,718.
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 North Carolina adds its own income tax on top — which is why $45,863 of this wage survives to your account.
Why is this job missing from some states?
Because the survey suppresses a figure when too few employers report it. This occupation has published pay in 50 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
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 North Carolina is $59,800. 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 ($46,740 to $77,000) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to North Carolina rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
North Carolina'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 $48,718 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 $45,863 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and North Carolina 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 50 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.