Home Health and Personal Care Aides in Arizona
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$30,935
after federal, FICA and Arizona tax
Tax takes
$5,485
15.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$30,597
Arizona costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Arizona — 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
$36,420
Kept after tax
$30,935
Worth in national money
$30,597
State rank
22
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Arizona sits in the middle of the pack for home health and personal care aides. The median is $36,420, ranking 22 of 51 states with figures. Close enough to the national middle that where you live matters more than the headline suggests.
- Measured against other jobs in Arizona, this one sits low: 463 of 491 occupations with published pay, in the bottom quarter.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $36,420, tax leaves $30,935, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $30,597 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $36,440, since top earners drag the number up.
- Arizona occupies the middle band for home health and personal care aides: a median of $36,420, ranking 22 of 51. Where nominal pay is close to the national figure, the tax and price adjustments below carry proportionally more weight in determining the real outcome.
- Home health and personal care aides occupies position 463 of 491 in Arizona'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.
- Because Arizona sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for home health and personal care aides — median $36,420 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $30,935 retained, $30,597 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $36,440 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Home Health and Personal Care Aides
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $30,990 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $36,420 |
| Top tenth earn over | $40,660 |
| This salary | $36,420 |
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 Arizona | $30,935 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $31,443 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$1,760 |
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 | $35,788 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$2,129 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 101 |
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 home health and personal care aides in Arizona earn under $36,420 and half over. The published range runs $30,990 at the tenth percentile to $40,660 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Arizona's $30,935, worked from $36,420. 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 463 of 491.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $30,597 uses one figure for the whole of Arizona. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 491 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 463.
- Figures are distribution medians for home health and personal care aides in Arizona, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $30,990 to $40,660; 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.
- The Arizona take-home of $30,935, on $36,420 for work ranking 463 of 491 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 463 of 491 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $30,597, worked from $36,420, 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 Arizona address, on work sitting at 463 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $30,990 at the bottom tenth to $40,660 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 $30,597 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; Arizona then takes its own share, leaving $30,935.
Can I compare this job across every state?
All 51 jurisdictions report this work, which makes the ranking a like-for-like one.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($30,990 to $40,660) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Arizona rather than a national figure.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
Arizona's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $30,597 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 $30,935 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Arizona 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.