Mental Health and Substance Abuse Social Workers in Vermont
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$57,612
after federal, FICA and Vermont tax
Tax takes
$15,598
21.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$59,618
Vermont costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Vermont — 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
$73,210
Kept after tax
$57,612
Worth in national money
$59,618
State rank
7
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. Vermont pays this job a middle wage of $73,210, ranking 7 of 51 states and sitting about 21.45% above the national middle.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 152 among 453 occupations Vermont publishes pay for.
- Vermont is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $73,210 the take-home is $57,612; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $59,618 would nationally. The average comes to $76,580, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Vermont's median for mental health and substance abuse social workers is $73,210, about 21.45% above the national figure and 7 of 51 states reporting. Whether that premium reaches the worker depends on the two adjustments below, which is the part a wage table cannot tell you.
- Position 152 of 453 in Vermont 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.
- Post-tax income for mental health and substance abuse social workers in Vermont, on $73,210, is $57,612 — equivalent to $59,618 once regional price parity is applied. ⚠️ The adjustment uses a statewide index that describes no particular address; within-state price variation, concentrated in housing, routinely exceeds the difference between two states. At $76,580 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
Choose your filing status and local taxes, compare pay, and keep a shortlist.Compare wage and personal-pay outcomes by state, with selected resident local taxes and saved career choices.
Pay band: Mental Health and Substance Abuse Social Workers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $61,510 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $73,210 |
| Top tenth earn over | $100,140 |
| This salary | $73,210 |
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 Vermont | $57,612 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $60,333 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$2,469 |
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 | $69,342 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$3,411 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 97 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Vermont earn less than $73,210. The published range is $61,510 up to $100,140, 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 Vermont's $57,612, worked from $73,210. 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 152 of 453.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $59,618 uses one figure for the whole of Vermont. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 453 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 152.
- Reported values are medians; for mental health and substance abuse social workers in Vermont the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $61,510 to $100,140. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The Vermont take-home of $57,612, on $73,210 for work ranking 152 of 453 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 152 of 453 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $59,618, worked from $73,210, 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 Vermont address, on work sitting at 152 of 453 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 $76,580 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 — $61,510 at the tenth percentile, $100,140 at the ninetieth.
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 $59,618.
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 Vermont adds its own income tax on top — which is why $57,612 of this wage survives to your account.
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 Vermont is $76,580. 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 ($61,510 to $100,140) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Vermont rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Vermont'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 $59,618 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 $57,612 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Vermont 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.