Optometrists in Georgia
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$93,491
after federal, FICA and Georgia tax
Tax takes
$35,339
27.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$96,683
Georgia costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Georgia — 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
$128,830
Kept after tax
$93,491
Worth in national money
$96,683
State rank
36
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Georgia is among the lower-paying states for optometrists. The middle earner takes $128,830, ranking 36 of 51 states — about 5.67% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
- Locally, this pays well. Among 492 occupations Georgia reports, optometrists comes in at 28 — comfortably in the upper quarter.
- Georgia is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $128,830 the take-home is $93,491; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $96,683 would nationally. The average lands at $128,630, below the middle of the range.
- Georgia ranks 36 of 51 for optometrists, with a median of $128,830 — about 5.67% below the national figure. A nominal shortfall is not by itself a real one: lower-paying states frequently carry lower tax and lower price levels, and the adjusted figures below are where that is settled rather than assumed.
- Optometrists ranks 28 of 492 occupations by median in Georgia, in the top quartile. Within-state position is largely independent of national position, so this holds regardless of how the state compares to others for the same work.
- Post-tax income for optometrists in Georgia, on $128,830, is $93,491 — equivalent to $96,683 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 $128,630 the mean undershoots the median, an inversion of the usual skew.
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: Optometrists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $51,030 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $128,830 |
| Top tenth earn over | $189,610 |
| This salary | $128,830 |
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 Georgia | $93,491 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $99,321 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$5,526 |
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 | $120,343 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$7,833 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 97 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $128,830 as a midpoint for Georgia, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $51,030 and the ninetieth is $189,610 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $93,491 take-home in Georgia comes from $128,830. 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 28 of 492.
- One number stands for prices across all of Georgia, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $96,683, the adjusted value of that $128,830 median, as a way to compare states fairly, not as a quote for any particular place. The two datasets are also from different years. This job sits at 28 of 492 in the state.
- The Georgia median of $128,830 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $51,030 to $189,610. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Retained pay of $93,491, from $128,830, assumes a single Georgia 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 28 of 492 locally, and the state ranks 36 of 51 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Georgia, so $96,683 — the adjusted value of that $128,830 median — establishes comparability between states rather than accuracy within one. The wage and parity series are dated independently, each following its own publication cycle, and neither is projected forward. This occupation sits at 28 of 492 locally.
Questions people ask
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
The label is broader than the work. From $51,030 at the bottom tenth to $189,610 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
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 $96,683.
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 Georgia's own levy, $93,491 remains.
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.
What drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($51,030) and the ninetieth ($189,610) 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.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Georgia'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 $96,683 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 $93,491 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Georgia 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.