Clinical and Counseling Psychologists in Utah
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$74,183
after federal, FICA and Utah tax
Tax takes
$24,987
25.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$78,086
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
$99,170
Kept after tax
$74,183
Worth in national money
$78,086
State rank
21
of 48 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Utah sits in the middle of the pack for this job. The median is $99,170, ranking 21 of 48 states with figures. Close enough to the national middle that where you live matters more than the headline suggests.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in Utah. It ranks 69 out of 487 occupations the state publishes figures for, which puts it in the top quarter locally.
- Here is where Utah does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $99,170 you keep $74,183, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $78,086 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $104,390, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Utah occupies the middle band for clinical and counseling psychologists: a median of $99,170, ranking 21 of 48. Where nominal pay is close to the national figure, the tax and price adjustments below carry proportionally more weight in determining the real outcome.
- Within Utah, clinical and counseling psychologists ranks 69 of 487 occupations by median pay, placing it in the top quartile of the local distribution. This is the comparison a resident actually makes — against neighbors rather than against the same job elsewhere.
- After federal, FICA and Utah income tax, retained pay for clinical and counseling psychologists on $99,170 is $74,183. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $78,086 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 $104,390 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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: Clinical and Counseling Psychologists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $48,070 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $99,170 |
| Top tenth earn over | $156,000 |
| This salary | $99,170 |
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 | $74,183 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $78,596 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$2,795 |
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 | $92,897 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$3,861 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 95 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $99,170 as a midpoint for Utah, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $48,070 and the ninetieth is $156,000 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $74,183 take-home in Utah comes from $99,170. 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 69 of 487.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $78,086 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 69.
- The Utah median of $99,170 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $48,070 to $156,000. 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 $74,183, from $99,170, 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 69 of 487 locally, and the state ranks 21 of 48 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $78,086, worked from $99,170, 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 69 of 487 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 $104,390 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 $48,070 and the top tenth $156,000 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
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 $78,086.
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 $74,183 of this wage survives to your account.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 48 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release 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 Utah is $104,390. 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 ($48,070) and the ninetieth ($156,000) 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 $78,086 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 $74,183 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.
Why does this occupation lack published estimates in every state?
BLS suppresses estimates failing disclosure or reliability criteria. This occupation has published state-level estimates in 48 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.