Child, Family, and School Social Workers in North Dakota
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$54,054
after federal, FICA and North Dakota tax
Tax takes
$10,506
16.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$61,028
North Dakota costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in North Dakota — 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
$64,560
Kept after tax
$54,054
Worth in national money
$61,028
State rank
14
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. North Dakota pays this job a middle wage of $64,560, ranking 14 of 51 states and sitting about 8.41% above the national middle.
- Against other work in North Dakota, this sits in the middle: 183 of 460 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $64,560 you keep $54,054 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $61,028 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $65,640, since top earners drag the number up.
- North Dakota's median for child, family, and school social workers is $64,560, about 8.41% above the national figure and 14 of 51 states reporting. Whether that premium reaches the worker depends on the two adjustments below, which is the part a wage table cannot tell you.
- Child, family, and school social workers ranks 183 of 460 occupations in North Dakota 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.
- Retained pay in North Dakota is $54,054 after the full tax stack, from $64,560. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $61,028 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $65,640 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Child, Family, and School Social Workers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $47,130 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $64,560 |
| Top tenth earn over | $81,160 |
| This salary | $64,560 |
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 Dakota | $54,054 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $54,054 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$5,403 |
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 | $64,560 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$7,187 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 89 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $64,560 as a midpoint for North Dakota, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $47,130 and the ninetieth is $81,160 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $54,054 take-home in North Dakota comes from $64,560. 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 183 of 460.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $61,028 uses one figure for the whole of North Dakota. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 460 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 183.
- The North Dakota median of $64,560 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $47,130 to $81,160. 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 $54,054, from $64,560, assumes a single North Dakota 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 183 of 460 locally, and the state ranks 14 of 51 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $61,028, worked from $64,560, 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 Dakota address, on work sitting at 183 of 460 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $47,130 at the tenth percentile, $81,160 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 $61,028.
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 Dakota adds its own income tax on top — which is why $54,054 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.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($47,130 to $81,160) 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 Dakota rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
North Dakota'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 $61,028 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 $54,054 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and North Dakota 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.