Child, Family, and School Social Workers in Arizona
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$41,624
after federal, FICA and Arizona tax
Tax takes
$8,526
17.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$41,169
Arizona costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Arizona — 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
$50,150
Kept after tax
$41,624
Worth in national money
$41,169
State rank
43
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Arizona is among the lower-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $50,150, ranking 43 of 51 states — about 15.79% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
- Against other work in Arizona, this sits in the middle: 298 of 491 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $50,150, tax leaves $41,624, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $41,169 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $52,420, since top earners drag the number up.
- Arizona ranks 43 of 51 for child, family, and school social workers, with a median of $50,150 — about 15.79% below the national figure. A nominal shortfall is not by itself a real one: lower-paying states frequently carry lower tax and lower price levels, and the adjusted figures below are where that is settled rather than assumed.
- Child, family, and school social workers ranks 298 of 491 occupations in Arizona by median pay, in the middle bands. Within-state and national positions are separate measurements and a job commonly sits in different quartiles on each.
- Because Arizona sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for child, family, and school social workers — median $50,150 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $41,624 retained, $41,169 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $52,420 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Child, Family, and School Social Workers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $40,420 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $50,150 |
| Top tenth earn over | $65,900 |
| This salary | $50,150 |
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 Arizona | $41,624 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $42,476 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$2,541 |
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 | $49,091 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$3,073 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 101 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $50,150 as a midpoint for Arizona, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $40,420 and the ninetieth is $65,900 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In Arizona the take-home figure of $41,624, from $50,150, 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 298 of 491 occupations here.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $41,169 uses one figure for the whole of Arizona. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 491 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 298.
- The Arizona median of $50,150 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $40,420 to $65,900. 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 Arizona is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $41,624 from $50,150. 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 298 of 491 locally.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $41,169, worked from $50,150, 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 Arizona address, on work sitting at 298 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 $52,420, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $40,420 and the top tenth $65,900, so most people doing this work in Arizona sit within a fairly tight band.
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 $41,169 of national purchasing power.
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; Arizona then takes its own share, leaving $41,624.
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 Arizona is $52,420. 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 ($40,420 to $65,900) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Arizona rather than a national figure.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
Arizona's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $41,169 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 $41,624 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Arizona 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.