Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses in Wisconsin
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$51,081
after federal, FICA and Wisconsin tax
Tax takes
$12,679
19.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$54,868
Wisconsin costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Wisconsin — 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
$63,760
Kept after tax
$51,081
Worth in national money
$54,868
State rank
26
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Wisconsin sits in the middle of the pack for this job. The median is $63,760, ranking 26 of 51 states with figures. Close enough to the national middle that where you live matters more than the headline suggests.
- Against other work in Wisconsin, this sits in the middle: 205 of 491 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Here is where Wisconsin does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $63,760 you keep $51,081, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $54,868 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $65,870, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Wisconsin occupies the middle band for licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses: a median of $63,760, ranking 26 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.
- Licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses ranks 205 of 491 occupations in Wisconsin by median pay, in the middle bands. Within-state and national positions are separate measurements and a job commonly sits in different quartiles on each.
- After federal, FICA and Wisconsin income tax, retained pay for licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses on $63,760 is $51,081. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $54,868 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 $65,870 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $51,820 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $63,760 |
| Top tenth earn over | $78,490 |
| This salary | $63,760 |
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 Wisconsin | $51,081 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $53,411 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$96 |
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 | $60,860 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$116 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 93 |
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 licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses in Wisconsin earn under $63,760 and half over. The published range runs $51,820 at the tenth percentile to $78,490 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $51,081 take-home in Wisconsin comes from $63,760. 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 205 of 491.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $54,868 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 205.
- Figures are distribution medians for licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses in Wisconsin, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $51,820 to $78,490; 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.
- Retained pay of $51,081, from $63,760, assumes a single Wisconsin 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 205 of 491 locally, and the state ranks 26 of 51 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $54,868, worked from $63,760, 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 205 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
No — it is the middle. Half of these workers earn more and half earn less. The average is $65,870, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $51,820 at the tenth percentile, $78,490 at the ninetieth.
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 $54,868.
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 Wisconsin's own levy, $51,081 remains.
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 Wisconsin is $65,870. 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 ($51,820 to $78,490) 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 $54,868 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 $51,081 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.