Massage Therapists in Oregon
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$62,954
after federal, FICA and Oregon tax
Tax takes
$24,016
27.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$60,116
Oregon costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Oregon — 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
$86,970
Kept after tax
$62,954
Worth in national money
$60,116
State rank
3
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Oregon is one of the better-paying states for massage therapists. The middle earner takes $86,970, which ranks 3 of 50 states with published figures. That is about 48.79% above the national middle.
- Against other work in Oregon, this sits in the middle: 126 of 489 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- The wage here flatters the reality. From $86,970 the take-home is $62,954. But Oregon costs more than the national average, so that money behaves more like $60,116 would elsewhere. Worth knowing before comparing offers across states. The average is lower, $82,160, so pay clusters nearer the top than usual.
- Oregon ranks 3 of 50 states publishing a median for massage therapists, at $86,970 — about 48.79% above the national median. A state's position on nominal pay is the figure wage tables report and the least informative of the three on this page, because it survives neither the tax adjustment nor the price adjustment intact for most occupations.
- Massage therapists ranks 126 of 489 occupations in Oregon 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.
- Retained pay after federal, FICA and Oregon income tax is $62,954 for massage therapists, from $86,970. The state's price level exceeds the national average, so the price-adjusted equivalent is $60,116. ⚠️ This is purchasing power and not a wage; cross-state offer comparisons that stop at the nominal figure systematically overvalue high-cost states. The mean of $82,160 falls below the median, a left skew that is uncommon in 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 | $47,270 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $86,970 |
| Top tenth earn over | $103,630 |
| This salary | $86,970 |
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 Oregon | $62,954 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $70,013 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$11,933 |
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 | $76,935 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$16,483 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 105 |
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 Oregon earn under $86,970 and half over. The published range runs $47,270 at the tenth percentile to $103,630 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $62,954 take-home in Oregon comes from $86,970. 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 126 of 489.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $60,116 uses one figure for the whole of Oregon. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 489 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 126.
- Figures are distribution medians for massage therapists in Oregon, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $47,270 to $103,630; 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 $62,954, from $86,970, assumes a single Oregon 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 126 of 489 locally, and the state ranks 3 of 50 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $60,116, worked from $86,970, 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 Oregon address, on work sitting at 126 of 489 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 $82,160 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $47,270 and the top tenth $103,630, so most people doing this work in Oregon sit within a fairly tight band.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
The number and the value are different things. Oregon costs more than the national average, so this take-home stretches like $60,116 rather than its face figure.
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 Oregon adds its own income tax on top — which is why $62,954 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.
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 Oregon is $82,160. 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 ($47,270 to $103,630) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Oregon rather than a national figure.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
Oregon's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $60,116 in national-average terms. ⚠️ RPPs are an all-items index; housing parities vary far more widely than the headline figure.
What accounts for the gap between gross wage and take-home here?
Take-home of $62,954 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Oregon 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.