Mental Health and Substance Abuse Social Workers in Oregon
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$51,398
after federal, FICA and Oregon tax
Tax takes
$16,812
24.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$49,080
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
$68,210
Kept after tax
$51,398
Worth in national money
$49,080
State rank
9
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is strong here. Oregon's middle earner gets $68,210, putting the state 9 of 51 — about 13.16% ahead of the national figure.
- Against other work in Oregon, this sits in the middle: 220 of 489 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Oregon is an expensive state, and the adjusted figure shows it. From $68,210 the take-home is $51,398; in national-average money that behaves like $49,080. The average comes to $73,050, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For mental health and substance abuse social workers, Oregon sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $68,210, ranking 9 of 51 and running about 13.16% above the national midpoint. Nominal advantage of this size is usually, though not always, large enough to survive the state's own tax and price levels.
- Mental health and substance abuse social workers ranks 220 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.
- Take-home for mental health and substance abuse social workers in Oregon, on $68,210, is $51,398; deflated by the state's price level, $49,080. ⚠️ The deflator is statewide, so it understates the erosion in the state's metropolitan areas and overstates it outside them. At $73,050 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
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 | $50,280 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $68,210 |
| Top tenth earn over | $100,680 |
| This salary | $68,210 |
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 | $51,398 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $56,816 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$9,387 |
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 | $61,254 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$11,565 |
| 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 mental health and substance abuse social workers in Oregon earn under $68,210 and half over. The published range runs $50,280 at the tenth percentile to $100,680 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $51,398 take-home in Oregon comes from $68,210. 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 220 of 489.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $49,080 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 220.
- Figures are distribution medians for mental health and substance abuse social workers in Oregon, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $50,280 to $100,680; 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 $51,398, from $68,210, 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 220 of 489 locally, and the state ranks 9 of 51 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $49,080, worked from $68,210, 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 220 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 $73,050 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $50,280, the highest tenth $100,680, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
Not on its own. Prices in Oregon run above the national level, so the same dollars buy less here. Adjusted for that, this pay is worth $49,080 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.
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 Oregon's own levy, $51,398 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 Oregon is $73,050. 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 drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($50,280) and the ninetieth ($100,680) exceeds the family median dispersion. SOC codes aggregate roles differing in seniority, industry and specialisation, and BLS does not disaggregate below the detailed occupation level, so within-title variance is not separable from the published series.
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 $49,080 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 $51,398 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.
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.