Occupational Therapy Assistants in Alaska
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$45,191
after federal, FICA and Alaska tax
Tax takes
$8,339
15.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$44,429
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
$53,530
Kept after tax
$45,191
Worth in national money
$44,429
State rank
50
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Alaska pays this job a middle wage of $53,530, 50 of 50 states and about 25.96% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Against other work in Alaska, this sits in the middle: 302 of 430 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- No great distortion either way. Alaska costs about what the country costs, so from $53,530, take-home of $45,191 is worth roughly $44,429 in national money. The average comes to $59,400, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Alaska's $53,530 median for occupational therapy assistants places it 50 of 50 states, about 25.96% below national. Because both the tax and price adjustments tend to favor lower-nominal states, this ranking is the least stable of the three reported here.
- Occupational therapy assistants ranks 302 of 430 occupations in Alaska 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.
- Price parity in Alaska is near the national base, so for occupational therapy assistants, whose median is $53,530, the adjusted figure of $44,429 differs little from $45,191 retained after tax. The state's position for this occupation is therefore set by wage and tax rather than by living costs. At $59,400 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
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Pay band: Occupational Therapy Assistants
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $34,110 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $53,530 |
| Top tenth earn over | $95,900 |
| This salary | $53,530 |
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 | $45,191 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $45,191 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$2,076 |
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 | $53,530 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$2,510 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 102 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Alaska earn less than $53,530. The published range is $34,110 up to $95,900, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $45,191 take-home in Alaska comes from $53,530. 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 302 of 430.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $44,429 uses one figure for the whole of Alaska. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 430 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 302.
- Reported values are medians; for occupational therapy assistants in Alaska the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $34,110 to $95,900. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $45,191, from $53,530, 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 302 of 430 locally, and the state ranks 50 of 50 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $44,429, worked from $53,530, 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 Alaska address, on work sitting at 302 of 430 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 $59,400, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $34,110, the highest tenth $95,900, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
The number and the value are different things. Alaska costs more than the national average, so this take-home stretches like $44,429 rather than its face figure.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Most of it arrives. $45,191 lands after tax, since there is no state income tax on wages here — though the federal floor is identical in every state.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 50 states here, and a missing state means too few reports, not no jobs.
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 $59,400. 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 ($34,110) and the ninetieth ($95,900) 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?
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 $44,429 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 $45,191 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.
Why does this occupation lack published estimates in every state?
BLS suppresses estimates failing disclosure or reliability criteria. This occupation has published state-level estimates in 50 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.