Massage Therapists in North Dakota
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$60,801
after federal, FICA and North Dakota tax
Tax takes
$13,339
18.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$68,646
North Dakota costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in North Dakota — 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
$74,140
Kept after tax
$60,801
Worth in national money
$68,646
State rank
7
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for massage therapists is strong here. North Dakota's middle earner gets $74,140, putting the state 7 of 50 — about 26.84% ahead of the national figure.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. Massage therapists ranks 143 among 460 occupations North Dakota publishes pay for.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $74,140 you keep $60,801 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $68,646 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $74,810, since top earners drag the number up.
- For massage therapists, North Dakota sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $74,140, ranking 7 of 50 and running about 26.84% above the national midpoint. Nominal advantage of this size is usually, though not always, large enough to survive the state's own tax and price levels.
- Position 143 of 460 in North Dakota places massage therapists in the middle of the state's wage distribution. Because within-state and cross-state rankings measure different things, this figure and the national one above should be read together rather than as a single verdict.
- Retained pay in North Dakota is $60,801 after the full tax stack, from $74,140. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $68,646 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $74,810 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Massage Therapists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $34,120 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $74,140 |
| Top tenth earn over | $110,870 |
| This salary | $74,140 |
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 Dakota | $60,801 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $60,987 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$5,885 |
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 | $73,875 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$8,129 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 89 |
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 massage therapists in North Dakota earn under $74,140 and half over. The published range runs $34,120 at the tenth percentile to $110,870 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 North Dakota's $60,801, worked from $74,140. 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 143 of 460.
- Two cautions on $68,646, the adjusted value of that $74,140 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of North Dakota. No actual address matches that. The wage figures and price figures are also from different years. Each is published on its own timetable. This work sits at 143 of 460 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for massage therapists in North Dakota, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $34,120 to $110,870; 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 North Dakota take-home of $60,801, on $74,140 for work ranking 143 of 460 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 143 of 460 in the state.
- This $68,646 adjusted figure, worked from $74,140, rests on a state-level price parity averaging over within-state dispersion larger than much of the between-state dispersion. Wage and price vintages differ by publication schedule. The result is directionally sound and not address-specific, for work at 143 of 460 in the state. The occupation ranks 143 of 460 locally.
Questions people ask
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $34,120 and the top tenth $110,870 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
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 $68,646.
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 North Dakota adds its own income tax on top — which is why $60,801 of this wage survives to your account.
Why is this job missing from some states?
Because the survey suppresses a figure when too few employers report it. This occupation has published pay in 50 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
What drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($34,120) and the ninetieth ($110,870) 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.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
North Dakota'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 $68,646 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 $60,801 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and North Dakota 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.
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.