Physical Therapist Aides in Maine
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$32,657
after federal, FICA and Maine tax
Tax takes
$7,003
17.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$33,634
Maine costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Maine — 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
$39,660
Kept after tax
$32,657
Worth in national money
$33,634
State rank
5
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Maine is one of the better-paying states for physical therapist aides. The middle earner takes $39,660, which ranks 5 of 50 states with published figures. That is about 12.54% above the national middle.
- Against 484 occupations Maine publishes, physical therapist aides lands at 437. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $39,660, tax leaves $32,657, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $33,634 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $47,340, since top earners drag the number up.
- Maine ranks 5 of 50 states publishing a median for physical therapist aides, at $39,660 — about 12.54% above the national median. A state's position on nominal pay is the figure wage tables report and the least informative of the three on this page, because it survives neither the tax adjustment nor the price adjustment intact for most occupations.
- Within Maine, this work ranks 437 of 484 occupations by median pay, in the bottom quartile. The within-state position is the more salient one for anyone weighing this job against alternatives available to them locally.
- Because Maine sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for physical therapist aides — median $39,660 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $32,657 retained, $33,634 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $47,340 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Physical Therapist Aides
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $34,590 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $39,660 |
| Top tenth earn over | $70,540 |
| This salary | $39,660 |
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 Maine | $32,657 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $34,047 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$1,403 |
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 | $37,930 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$1,697 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 97 |
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 physical therapist aides in Maine earn under $39,660 and half over. The published range runs $34,590 at the tenth percentile to $70,540 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 Maine's $32,657, worked from $39,660. 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 437 of 484.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $33,634 uses one figure for the whole of Maine. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 484 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 437.
- Figures are distribution medians for physical therapist aides in Maine, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $34,590 to $70,540; 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 Maine take-home of $32,657, on $39,660 for work ranking 437 of 484 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 437 of 484 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $33,634, worked from $39,660, 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 Maine address, on work sitting at 437 of 484 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 $47,340 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $34,590 and the top tenth $70,540 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
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 $33,634.
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 Maine's own levy, $32,657 remains.
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 Maine is $47,340. 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 ($34,590) and the ninetieth ($70,540) 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?
Maine'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 $33,634 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 $32,657 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Maine 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.