Home Health and Personal Care Aides in Wisconsin

A stethoscope and folded scrubs in a sunlit clinical workspace.

May 2025 wages · tax year 2026

You keep

$30,441

after federal, FICA and Wisconsin tax

Tax takes

$5,899

16.2% of the whole

Worth, in national money

$32,698

Wisconsin costs less than average

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

$36,340

Kept after tax

$30,441

Worth in national money

$32,698

State rank

23

of 51 states

What this pays, and what it is worth

  • Wisconsin sits in the middle of the pack for home health and personal care aides. The median is $36,340, ranking 23 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 Wisconsin, this one sits low: 450 of 491 occupations with published pay, in the bottom quarter.
  • Wisconsin is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $36,340 the take-home is $30,441; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $32,698 would nationally. The average lands at $35,370, below the middle of the range.
  • Wisconsin occupies the middle band for home health and personal care aides: a median of $36,340, ranking 23 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 450 of 491 in Wisconsin'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.
  • Post-tax income for home health and personal care aides in Wisconsin, on $36,340, is $30,441 — equivalent to $32,698 once regional price parity is applied. ⚠️ The adjustment uses a statewide index that describes no particular address; within-state price variation, concentrated in housing, routinely exceeds the difference between two states. At $35,370 the mean undershoots the median, an inversion of the usual skew.

Compare this career across states

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Pay band: Home Health and Personal Care Aides

The state median for this job

50thpercentile, roughly
Lowest tenth earn under$28,030
Half earn under$36,340
Top tenth earn over$42,820
This salary$36,340

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

Compare with
+$938take-home per year in Texas
Take-home in Wisconsin$30,441
Take-home in Texas$31,379
Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity−$407

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

Moving to
$0$36,832
$36,832in Texas, for the same life
To match take-home only$35,172
Raise you would need+$492
Prices in Texas97 vs 93

State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.

Sources and assumptions
  • Half the people doing this work in Wisconsin earn less than $36,340. The published range is $28,030 up to $42,820, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
  • In Wisconsin the take-home figure of $30,441, from $36,340, 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 450 of 491 occupations here.
  • The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $32,698 uses one figure for the whole of Wisconsin. 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 450.
  • Reported values are medians; for home health and personal care aides in Wisconsin the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $28,030 to $42,820. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
  • Take-home for Wisconsin is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $30,441 from $36,340. 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 450 of 491 locally.
  • Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $32,698, worked from $36,340, 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 Wisconsin address, on work sitting at 450 of 491 locally.

Questions people ask

How much does pay for this job actually vary?

Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $28,030 at the tenth percentile, $42,820 at the ninetieth.

What does this pay actually buy where I live?

More than the figure suggests. Prices in Wisconsin sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $32,698 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.

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 Wisconsin adds its own income tax on top — which is why $30,441 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.

What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?

The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($28,030 to $42,820) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Wisconsin rather than a national figure.

What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?

Wisconsin'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 $32,698 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 $30,441 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Wisconsin 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.