Massage Therapists in Ohio
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$46,345
after federal, FICA and Ohio tax
Tax takes
$9,645
17.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$50,478
Ohio costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Ohio — 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
$55,990
Kept after tax
$46,345
Worth in national money
$50,478
State rank
32
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. Ohio is 32 of 50 states for massage therapists, with a middle wage of $55,990. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- Against other work in Ohio, this sits in the middle: 266 of 494 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Here is where Ohio does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $55,990 you keep $46,345, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $50,478 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $57,920, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Ohio ranks 32 of 50 for massage therapists at $55,990. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- Massage therapists ranks 266 of 494 occupations in Ohio 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 Ohio income tax, retained pay for massage therapists on $55,990 is $46,345. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $50,478 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 $57,920 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Massage Therapists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $40,340 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $55,990 |
| Top tenth earn over | $78,520 |
| This salary | $55,990 |
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 Ohio | $46,345 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $47,168 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,939 |
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 | $54,965 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,344 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 92 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $55,990 as a midpoint for Ohio, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $40,340 and the ninetieth is $78,520 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In Ohio the take-home figure of $46,345, from $55,990, 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 266 of 494 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $50,478, the adjusted value of that $55,990 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Ohio. 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 266 of 494 locally.
- The Ohio median of $55,990 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $40,340 to $78,520. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Take-home for Ohio is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $46,345 from $55,990. 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 266 of 494 locally.
- This $50,478 adjusted figure, worked from $55,990, 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 266 of 494 in the state. The occupation ranks 266 of 494 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 $57,920, 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?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $40,340 and the top tenth $78,520, so most people doing this work in Ohio sit within a fairly tight band.
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 $50,478.
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 Ohio adds its own income tax on top — which is why $46,345 of this wage survives to your account.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 50 states here, and a missing state means too few reports, not no jobs.
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 Ohio is $57,920. 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 ($40,340 to $78,520) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Ohio rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Ohio'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 $50,478 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 $46,345 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Ohio 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.