Childcare Workers in Kansas
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$24,331
after federal, FICA and Kansas tax
Tax takes
$4,909
16.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$27,045
Kansas costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Kansas — 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
$29,240
Kept after tax
$24,331
Worth in national money
$27,045
State rank
38
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for childcare workers is on the low side in Kansas. The middle earner gets $29,240. That is 38 of 51 states, and about 16.41% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Against 488 occupations Kansas publishes, childcare workers lands at 474. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $29,240 you keep $24,331 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $27,045 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $30,430, since top earners drag the number up.
- For childcare workers, Kansas sits in the lower band at $29,240, ranking 38 of 51 and trailing the national median by about 16.41%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Within Kansas, this work ranks 474 of 488 occupations by median pay, in the bottom quartile. The within-state position is the more salient one for anyone weighing this job against alternatives available to them locally.
- Retained pay in Kansas is $24,331 after the full tax stack, from $29,240. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $27,045 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $30,430 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
Choose your filing status and local taxes, compare pay, and keep a shortlist.Compare wage and personal-pay outcomes by state, with selected resident local taxes and saved career choices.
Pay band: Childcare Workers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $22,810 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $29,240 |
| Top tenth earn over | $37,280 |
| This salary | $29,240 |
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 Kansas | $24,331 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $25,674 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$625 |
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 | $27,591 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$755 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Kansas earn less than $29,240. The published range is $22,810 up to $37,280, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Kansas's $24,331, worked from $29,240. That is on purpose. It lets states be compared with each other, not with each other's family circumstances. Local city taxes are left out. Locally this work ranks 474 of 488.
- One number stands for prices across all of Kansas, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $27,045, the adjusted value of that $29,240 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 474 of 488 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for childcare workers in Kansas the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $22,810 to $37,280. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The Kansas take-home of $24,331, on $29,240 for work ranking 474 of 488 locally, models the simplest household deliberately: holding it constant is what makes the interstate comparison meaningful. It also means the absolute figure overstates liability for most real filers, and municipal income taxes are outside the model entirely. The occupation ranks 474 of 488 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Kansas, so $27,045 — the adjusted value of that $29,240 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 474 of 488 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $30,430, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $22,810 and the top tenth $37,280, so most people doing this work in Kansas sit within a fairly tight band.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Kansas is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $27,045 in national terms.
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 Kansas adds its own income tax on top — which is why $24,331 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 Kansas is $30,430. 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 ($22,810 to $37,280) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Kansas rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Kansas'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 $27,045 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 $24,331 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Kansas 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.