Home Health and Personal Care Aides in North Carolina
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$26,544
after federal, FICA and North Carolina tax
Tax takes
$4,696
15.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$28,196
North Carolina costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in North Carolina — 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
$31,240
Kept after tax
$26,544
Worth in national money
$28,196
State rank
39
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. North Carolina pays home health and personal care aides a middle wage of $31,240, 39 of 51 states and about 12.74% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Within North Carolina this is lower-paid work. Of 489 occupations the state publishes figures for, home health and personal care aides ranks 472. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $31,240 you keep $26,544 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $28,196 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $32,320, since top earners drag the number up.
- North Carolina's $31,240 median for home health and personal care aides places it 39 of 51 states, about 12.74% below national. Because both the tax and price adjustments tend to favor lower-nominal states, this ranking is the least stable of the three reported here.
- Against every occupation North Carolina reports, home health and personal care aides ranks 472 of 489, in the lowest quartile of the state's distribution. That position is set by the local labor market and is independent of how the state compares nationally for this work.
- Retained pay in North Carolina is $26,544 after the full tax stack, from $31,240. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $28,196 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $32,320 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Home Health and Personal Care Aides
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $24,690 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $31,240 |
| Top tenth earn over | $38,680 |
| This salary | $31,240 |
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 North Carolina | $26,544 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $27,281 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$122 |
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 | $30,322 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$147 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 94 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $31,240 as a midpoint for North Carolina, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $24,690 and the ninetieth is $38,680 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $26,544 take-home in North Carolina comes from $31,240. 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 472 of 489.
- One number stands for prices across all of North Carolina, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $28,196, the adjusted value of that $31,240 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 472 of 489 in the state.
- The North Carolina median of $31,240 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $24,690 to $38,680. 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 $26,544, from $31,240, assumes a single North Carolina 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 472 of 489 locally, and the state ranks 39 of 51 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for North Carolina, so $28,196 — the adjusted value of that $31,240 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 472 of 489 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $32,320, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $24,690 at the bottom tenth to $38,680 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
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 $28,196.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Three of them are federal and one is not. After income tax, Social Security, Medicare and North Carolina's own levy, $26,544 remains.
Can I compare this job across every state?
Yes for this one. Pay is published in all 51 jurisdictions, so a state-to-state comparison here rests on the same survey everywhere rather than on a patchwork.
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 North Carolina is $32,320. 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 ($24,690 to $38,680) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to North Carolina rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
North Carolina'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 $28,196 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 $26,544 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and North Carolina 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.