Health Education Specialists in Oklahoma
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$50,041
after federal, FICA and Oklahoma tax
Tax takes
$12,399
19.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$56,681
Oklahoma costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Oklahoma — 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
$62,440
Kept after tax
$50,041
Worth in national money
$56,681
State rank
30
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. Oklahoma is 30 of 51 states for health education specialists, with a middle wage of $62,440. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. Health education specialists ranks 164 among 492 occupations Oklahoma publishes pay for.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $62,440 you keep $50,041 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $56,681 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $67,330, since top earners drag the number up.
- Oklahoma ranks 30 of 51 for health education specialists at $62,440. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- Position 164 of 492 in Oklahoma places health education specialists 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.
- Retained pay in Oklahoma is $50,041 after the full tax stack, from $62,440. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $56,681 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $67,330 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Health Education Specialists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $39,270 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $62,440 |
| Top tenth earn over | $103,780 |
| This salary | $62,440 |
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 Oklahoma | $50,041 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $52,351 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$2,808 |
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 | $59,566 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$3,396 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 88 |
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 health education specialists in Oklahoma earn under $62,440 and half over. The published range runs $39,270 at the tenth percentile to $103,780 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In Oklahoma the take-home figure of $50,041, from $62,440, assumes one filer, no dependants, and nothing paid into a pension before tax. Each of those lowers the bill, so treat it as the plain case. City and school-district income taxes are not included either, and in a few states those are real money. It ranks 164 of 492 occupations here.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $56,681 uses one figure for the whole of Oklahoma. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 492 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 164.
- Figures are distribution medians for health education specialists in Oklahoma, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $39,270 to $103,780; 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.
- Take-home for Oklahoma is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $50,041 from $62,440. Each omitted item reduces taxable income, so the figure is a lower bound on retained pay for this household shape. Municipal and school-district income taxes are excluded, which understates the burden materially in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The occupation ranks 164 of 492 locally.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $56,681, worked from $62,440, 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 Oklahoma address, on work sitting at 164 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 $67,330 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?
The label is broader than the work. From $39,270 at the bottom tenth to $103,780 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
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 $56,681.
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 Oklahoma adds its own income tax on top — which is why $50,041 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 Oklahoma is $67,330. 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 ($39,270) and the ninetieth ($103,780) 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?
Oklahoma'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 $56,681 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 $50,041 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Oklahoma 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.