Childcare Workers in New York
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$30,951
after federal, FICA and New York tax
Tax takes
$6,639
17.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$28,758
New York costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in New York — 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
$37,590
Kept after tax
$30,951
Worth in national money
$28,758
State rank
8
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for childcare workers is strong here. New York's middle earner gets $37,590, putting the state 8 of 51 — about 7.46% ahead of the national figure.
- Measured against other jobs in New York, this one sits low: 470 of 493 occupations with published pay, in the bottom quarter.
- Costs eat into it here. Of $37,590, tax leaves $30,951 — and because New York is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $28,758 would nationally. Averages run higher here, $39,690, since top earners drag the number up.
- For childcare workers, New York sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $37,590, ranking 8 of 51 and running about 7.46% above the national midpoint. Nominal advantage of this size is usually, though not always, large enough to survive the state's own tax and price levels.
- Childcare workers occupies position 470 of 493 in New York's occupational wage distribution, in the bottom quartile. National ranking and local ranking answer different questions and frequently disagree; this is the one a resident experiences.
- After tax, $30,951 remains from the New York median of $37,590 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $28,758 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $39,690 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Childcare Workers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $33,630 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $37,590 |
| Top tenth earn over | $46,970 |
| This salary | $37,590 |
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 New York | $30,951 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $32,384 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$4,567 |
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 | $35,807 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$5,524 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 108 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $37,590 as a midpoint for New York, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $33,630 and the ninetieth is $46,970 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind New York's $30,951, worked from $37,590. 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 470 of 493.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $28,758 uses one figure for the whole of New York. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 493 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 470.
- The New York median of $37,590 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $33,630 to $46,970. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- The New York take-home of $30,951, on $37,590 for work ranking 470 of 493 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 470 of 493 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $28,758, worked from $37,590, 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 New York address, on work sitting at 470 of 493 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 $39,690 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $33,630 at the bottom tenth to $46,970 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
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 $28,758 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; New York then takes its own share, leaving $30,951.
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 New York is $39,690. 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 ($33,630 to $46,970) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to New York rather than a national figure.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
New York's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $28,758 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 $30,951 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and New York 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.