Mental Health and Substance Abuse Social Workers in Kansas
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$44,586
after federal, FICA and Kansas tax
Tax takes
$11,744
20.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$49,560
Kansas costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Kansas — 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
$56,330
Kept after tax
$44,586
Worth in national money
$49,560
State rank
27
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. Kansas is 27 of 51 states for this job, with a middle wage of $56,330. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- Against other work in Kansas, this sits in the middle: 243 of 488 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $56,330 you keep $44,586 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $49,560 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $60,380, since top earners drag the number up.
- Kansas ranks 27 of 51 for mental health and substance abuse social workers at $56,330. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- Mental health and substance abuse social workers ranks 243 of 488 occupations in Kansas 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 in Kansas is $44,586 after the full tax stack, from $56,330. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $49,560 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $60,380 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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 | $47,750 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $56,330 |
| Top tenth earn over | $79,650 |
| This salary | $56,330 |
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 Kansas | $44,586 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $47,441 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$739 |
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 | $52,777 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$894 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $56,330 as a midpoint for Kansas, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $47,750 and the ninetieth is $79,650 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Kansas's $44,586, worked from $56,330. 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 243 of 488.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $49,560 uses one figure for the whole of Kansas. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 488 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 243.
- The Kansas median of $56,330 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $47,750 to $79,650. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- The Kansas take-home of $44,586, on $56,330 for work ranking 243 of 488 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 243 of 488 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $49,560, worked from $56,330, 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 Kansas address, on work sitting at 243 of 488 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?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $47,750 and the top tenth $79,650, so most people doing this work in Kansas 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 $49,560.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Three of them are federal and one is not. After income tax, Social Security, Medicare and Kansas's own levy, $44,586 remains.
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 Kansas 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 ($47,750 to $79,650) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Kansas rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Kansas'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 $49,560 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 $44,586 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Kansas 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.
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.