Medical Assistants in Alaska
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$44,412
after federal, FICA and Alaska tax
Tax takes
$8,148
15.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$43,663
Alaska costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Alaska — 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
$52,560
Kept after tax
$44,412
Worth in national money
$43,663
State rank
2
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Alaska is one of the better-paying states for medical assistants. The middle earner takes $52,560, which ranks 2 of 51 states with published figures. That is about 15.04% above the national middle.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 430 occupations Alaska reports figures for, this is number 306.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $52,560, tax leaves $44,412, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $43,663 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $56,630, since top earners drag the number up.
- Alaska ranks 2 of 51 states publishing a median for medical assistants, at $52,560 — about 15.04% 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.
- In Alaska's occupational distribution, medical assistants sits at 306 of 430 — 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.
- Because Alaska sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for medical assistants — median $52,560 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $44,412 retained, $43,663 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $56,630 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Medical Assistants
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $46,060 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $52,560 |
| Top tenth earn over | $65,040 |
| This salary | $52,560 |
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 Alaska | $44,412 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $44,412 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$2,040 |
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 | $52,560 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$2,467 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 102 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Alaska earn less than $52,560. The published range is $46,060 up to $65,040, 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 Alaska's $44,412, worked from $52,560. 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 306 of 430.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $43,663 uses one figure for the whole of Alaska. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 430 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 306.
- Reported values are medians; for medical assistants in Alaska the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $46,060 to $65,040. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The Alaska take-home of $44,412, on $52,560 for work ranking 306 of 430 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 306 of 430 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $43,663, worked from $52,560, 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 Alaska address, on work sitting at 306 of 430 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 $56,630 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $46,060 at the tenth percentile, $65,040 at the ninetieth.
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 $43,663 of national purchasing power.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Less than people assume. $44,412 of this wage reaches your account, because Alaska takes no income tax from wages — but federal tax, Social Security and Medicare still apply exactly as they do everywhere else.
Can I compare this job across every state?
Yes for this one. Pay is published in all 51 jurisdictions, so a state-to-state comparison here rests on the same survey everywhere rather than on a patchwork.
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 Alaska is $56,630. 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 ($46,060 to $65,040) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Alaska rather than a national figure.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
Alaska's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $43,663 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?
Alaska levies no personal income tax on wages, so take-home of $44,412 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.
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.