Occupational Therapy Assistants in Pennsylvania
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$56,996
after federal, FICA and Pennsylvania tax
Tax takes
$14,594
20.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$58,457
Pennsylvania costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Pennsylvania — 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
$71,590
Kept after tax
$56,996
Worth in national money
$58,457
State rank
21
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Pennsylvania pays this job around $71,590 at the midpoint, 21 of 50 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 164 among 492 occupations Pennsylvania publishes pay for.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $71,590, tax leaves $56,996, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $58,457 in comparable terms. Here the average runs under the middle, at $67,750.
- For occupational therapy assistants the Pennsylvania median is $71,590, ranking 21 of 50 states reporting. Mid-band nominal positions are the ones most frequently reordered by the adjustments, because no large wage premium exists to absorb a state's tax or price level.
- Position 164 of 492 in Pennsylvania places occupational therapy assistants 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.
- Because Pennsylvania sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for occupational therapy assistants — median $71,590 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $56,996 retained, $58,457 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $67,750 sits under the median, so the lower tail is the longer one.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Occupational Therapy Assistants
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $55,690 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $71,590 |
| Top tenth earn over | $77,790 |
| This salary | $71,590 |
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 Pennsylvania | $56,996 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $59,194 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$2,457 |
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 | $68,466 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$3,394 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 98 |
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 occupational therapy assistants in Pennsylvania earn under $71,590 and half over. The published range runs $55,690 at the tenth percentile to $77,790 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In Pennsylvania the take-home figure of $56,996, from $71,590, assumes one filer, no dependants, and nothing paid into a pension before tax. Each of those lowers the bill, so treat it as the plain case. City and school-district income taxes are not included either, and in a few states those are real money. It ranks 164 of 492 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $58,457, the adjusted value of that $71,590 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Pennsylvania. 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 164 of 492 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for occupational therapy assistants in Pennsylvania, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $55,690 to $77,790; 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.
- Take-home for Pennsylvania is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $56,996 from $71,590. Each omitted item reduces taxable income, so the figure is a lower bound on retained pay for this household shape. Municipal and school-district income taxes are excluded, which understates the burden materially in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The occupation ranks 164 of 492 locally.
- This $58,457 adjusted figure, worked from $71,590, 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 164 of 492 in the state. The occupation ranks 164 of 492 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 $67,750, 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?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $55,690 at the tenth percentile, $77,790 at the ninetieth.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Pennsylvania is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $58,457 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; Pennsylvania then takes its own share, leaving $56,996.
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 Pennsylvania is $67,750. 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 ($55,690 to $77,790) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Pennsylvania rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Pennsylvania'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 $58,457 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 $56,996 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Pennsylvania 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.
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.