Child, Family, and School Social Workers in Utah
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$41,648
after federal, FICA and Utah tax
Tax takes
$10,352
19.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$43,839
Utah costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Utah — 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
$52,000
Kept after tax
$41,648
Worth in national money
$43,839
State rank
37
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Utah is among the lower-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $52,000, ranking 37 of 51 states — about 12.68% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
- Against other work in Utah, this sits in the middle: 287 of 487 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Here is where Utah does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $52,000 you keep $41,648, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $43,839 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $59,670, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Utah ranks 37 of 51 for child, family, and school social workers, with a median of $52,000 — about 12.68% 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 287 of 487 occupations in Utah 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.
- After federal, FICA and Utah income tax, retained pay for child, family, and school social workers on $52,000 is $41,648. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $43,839 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 $59,670 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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 | $36,040 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $52,000 |
| Top tenth earn over | $98,800 |
| This salary | $52,000 |
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 Utah | $41,648 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $43,962 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$1,401 |
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 | $49,120 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$1,694 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 95 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- A median is the middle, not an offer. Half of child, family, and school social workers in Utah earn under $52,000 and half over. The published range runs $36,040 at the tenth percentile to $98,800 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $41,648 take-home in Utah comes from $52,000. 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 287 of 487.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $43,839 uses one figure for the whole of Utah. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 487 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 287.
- Figures are distribution medians for child, family, and school social workers in Utah, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $36,040 to $98,800; within-state dispersion of that width routinely exceeds the dispersion between states, so tenure, employer and metropolitan area predict an individual's pay better than geography does.
- Retained pay of $41,648, from $52,000, assumes a single Utah 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 287 of 487 locally, and the state ranks 37 of 51 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $43,839, worked from $52,000, 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 Utah address, on work sitting at 287 of 487 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $59,670, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $36,040, the highest tenth $98,800, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in Utah sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $43,839 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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 Utah adds its own income tax on top — which is why $41,648 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.
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 Utah is $59,670. 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 ($36,040) and the ninetieth ($98,800) 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?
Utah'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 $43,839 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 $41,648 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Utah 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.