Mental Health and Substance Abuse Social Workers in Wisconsin
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$49,667
after federal, FICA and Wisconsin tax
Tax takes
$12,193
19.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$53,349
Wisconsin costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Wisconsin — 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
$61,860
Kept after tax
$49,667
Worth in national money
$53,349
State rank
17
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. Wisconsin pays this job a middle wage of $61,860, ranking 17 of 51 states and sitting about 2.62% above the national middle.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 230 among 491 occupations Wisconsin publishes pay for.
- Wisconsin is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $61,860 the take-home is $49,667; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $53,349 would nationally. The average comes to $64,960, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Wisconsin's median for mental health and substance abuse social workers is $61,860, about 2.62% above the national figure and 17 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 230 of 491 in Wisconsin 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 Wisconsin, on $61,860, is $49,667 — equivalent to $53,349 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 $64,960 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 | $45,430 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $61,860 |
| Top tenth earn over | $87,690 |
| This salary | $61,860 |
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 Wisconsin | $49,667 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $51,885 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$43 |
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 | $59,100 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$52 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 93 |
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 Wisconsin earn under $61,860 and half over. The published range runs $45,430 at the tenth percentile to $87,690 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Wisconsin's $49,667, worked from $61,860. 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 230 of 491.
- Two cautions on $53,349, the adjusted value of that $61,860 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Wisconsin. No actual address matches that. The wage figures and price figures are also from different years. Each is published on its own timetable. This work sits at 230 of 491 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for mental health and substance abuse social workers in Wisconsin, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $45,430 to $87,690; 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.
- The Wisconsin take-home of $49,667, on $61,860 for work ranking 230 of 491 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 230 of 491 in the state.
- This $53,349 adjusted figure, worked from $61,860, rests on a state-level price parity averaging over within-state dispersion larger than much of the between-state dispersion. Wage and price vintages differ by publication schedule. The result is directionally sound and not address-specific, for work at 230 of 491 in the state. The occupation ranks 230 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
No — it is the middle. Half of these workers earn more and half earn less. The average is $64,960, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $45,430 at the bottom tenth to $87,690 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Wisconsin is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $53,349 in national terms.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Four deductions, stacked. The federal layer and the two payroll taxes apply wherever you work; Wisconsin then takes its own share, leaving $49,667.
Can I compare this job across every state?
All 51 jurisdictions report this work, which makes the ranking a like-for-like one.
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 Wisconsin is $64,960. 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 ($45,430 to $87,690) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Wisconsin rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Wisconsin'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 $53,349 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 $49,667 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Wisconsin 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.