Child, Family, and School Social Workers in Pennsylvania
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$41,454
after federal, FICA and Pennsylvania tax
Tax takes
$9,366
18.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$42,517
Pennsylvania costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Pennsylvania — 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
$50,820
Kept after tax
$41,454
Worth in national money
$42,517
State rank
41
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pennsylvania is among the lower-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $50,820, ranking 41 of 51 states — about 14.66% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 307 among 492 occupations Pennsylvania publishes pay for.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $50,820, tax leaves $41,454, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $42,517 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $55,330, since top earners drag the number up.
- Pennsylvania ranks 41 of 51 for child, family, and school social workers, with a median of $50,820 — about 14.66% 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.
- Position 307 of 492 in Pennsylvania places child, family, and school social workers 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.
- Because Pennsylvania sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for child, family, and school social workers — median $50,820 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $41,454 retained, $42,517 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $55,330 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 | $38,430 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $50,820 |
| Top tenth earn over | $78,470 |
| This salary | $50,820 |
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 Pennsylvania | $41,454 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $43,014 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$1,748 |
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 | $48,878 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$2,114 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 98 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Pennsylvania earn less than $50,820. The published range is $38,430 up to $78,470, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $41,454 take-home in Pennsylvania comes from $50,820. 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 307 of 492.
- One number stands for prices across all of Pennsylvania, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $42,517, the adjusted value of that $50,820 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 307 of 492 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for child, family, and school social workers in Pennsylvania the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $38,430 to $78,470. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $41,454, from $50,820, assumes a single Pennsylvania 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 307 of 492 locally, and the state ranks 41 of 51 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Pennsylvania, so $42,517 — the adjusted value of that $50,820 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 307 of 492 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 $55,330 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $38,430 and the top tenth $78,470 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Pennsylvania is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $42,517 in national terms.
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 Pennsylvania's own levy, $41,454 remains.
Can I compare this job across every state?
Yes for this one. Pay is published in all 51 jurisdictions, so a state-to-state comparison here rests on the same survey everywhere rather than on a patchwork.
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 Pennsylvania is $55,330. 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 ($38,430) and the ninetieth ($78,470) 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?
Pennsylvania'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 $42,517 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 $41,454 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Pennsylvania 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.