Mental Health and Substance Abuse Social Workers in Alaska
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$47,746
after federal, FICA and Alaska tax
Tax takes
$8,964
15.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$46,941
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
$56,710
Kept after tax
$47,746
Worth in national money
$46,941
State rank
26
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Alaska sits in the middle of the pack for this job. The median is $56,710, ranking 26 of 51 states with figures. Close enough to the national middle that where you live matters more than the headline suggests.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 279 among 430 occupations Alaska publishes pay for.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $56,710 the take-home is $47,746, which is worth about $46,941 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is higher, $60,380, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Alaska occupies the middle band for mental health and substance abuse social workers: a median of $56,710, ranking 26 of 51. Where nominal pay is close to the national figure, the tax and price adjustments below carry proportionally more weight in determining the real outcome.
- Position 279 of 430 in Alaska places mental health and substance abuse social workers 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.
- Alaska's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for mental health and substance abuse social workers on its $56,710 median: $47,746 retained after tax becomes $46,941 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $60,380 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Mental Health and Substance Abuse Social Workers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $46,250 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $56,710 |
| Top tenth earn over | $85,670 |
| This salary | $56,710 |
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 | $47,746 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $47,746 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$2,193 |
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 | $56,710 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$2,652 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 102 |
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 mental health and substance abuse social workers in Alaska earn under $56,710 and half over. The published range runs $46,250 at the tenth percentile to $85,670 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $47,746 take-home in Alaska comes from $56,710. 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 279 of 430.
- One number stands for prices across all of Alaska, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $46,941, the adjusted value of that $56,710 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 279 of 430 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for mental health and substance abuse social workers in Alaska, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $46,250 to $85,670; 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 $47,746, from $56,710, assumes a single Alaska 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 279 of 430 locally, and the state ranks 26 of 51 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Alaska, so $46,941 — the adjusted value of that $56,710 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 279 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 $60,380 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 — $46,250 at the tenth percentile, $85,670 at the ninetieth.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
Not on its own. Prices in Alaska run above the national level, so the same dollars buy less here. Adjusted for that, this pay is worth $46,941 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
No. $47,746 survives, because Alaska levies no wage income tax. The federal share does not change with the state you work in.
Can I compare this job across every state?
This occupation is published everywhere — all 51 of them — so comparing states measures real differences rather than gaps in the data.
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 $60,380. 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 ($46,250 to $85,670) 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 $46,941 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 $47,746 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.