Massage Therapists in Florida
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$42,098
after federal, FICA and Florida tax
Tax takes
$7,582
15.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$40,693
Florida costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Florida — 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
$49,680
Kept after tax
$42,098
Worth in national money
$40,693
State rank
42
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for massage therapists is on the low side in Florida. The middle earner gets $49,680. That is 42 of 50 states, and about 15% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 493 occupations Florida reports figures for, this is number 281.
- Costs eat into it here. Of $49,680, tax leaves $42,098 — and because Florida is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $40,693 would nationally. Averages run higher here, $53,730, since top earners drag the number up.
- For massage therapists, Florida sits in the lower band at $49,680, ranking 42 of 50 and trailing the national median by about 15%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- In Florida's occupational distribution, massage therapists sits at 281 of 493 — neither quartile. This local position is what a resident compares against, and it is determined by the state's own labor market rather than by national patterns for this occupation.
- After tax, $42,098 remains from the Florida median of $49,680 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $40,693 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $53,730 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Massage Therapists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $30,310 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $49,680 |
| Top tenth earn over | $79,220 |
| This salary | $49,680 |
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 Florida | $42,098 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $42,098 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$2,629 |
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 | $49,680 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$3,179 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 103 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Florida earn less than $49,680. The published range is $30,310 up to $79,220, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Florida's $42,098, worked from $49,680. 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 281 of 493.
- One number stands for prices across all of Florida, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $40,693, the adjusted value of that $49,680 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 281 of 493 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for massage therapists in Florida the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $30,310 to $79,220. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The Florida take-home of $42,098, on $49,680 for work ranking 281 of 493 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 281 of 493 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Florida, so $40,693 — the adjusted value of that $49,680 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 281 of 493 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 $53,730 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 $30,310 at the bottom tenth to $79,220 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
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 $40,693 of national purchasing power.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Most of it arrives. $42,098 lands after tax, since there is no state income tax on wages here — though the federal floor is identical in every state.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 50 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release one.
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 Florida is $53,730. 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 ($30,310) and the ninetieth ($79,220) 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.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
Florida's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $40,693 in national-average terms. ⚠️ RPPs are an all-items index; housing parities vary far more widely than the headline figure.
Why is the take-home ratio comparatively high in this state?
Florida levies no personal income tax on wages, so take-home of $42,098 reflects the federal layer and FICA alone. Federal income tax and FICA are unchanged; states without a wage income tax generally recover revenue through consumption and property bases instead.
Why does this occupation lack published estimates in every state?
BLS suppresses estimates failing disclosure or reliability criteria. This occupation has published state-level estimates in 50 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.