Physical Therapists in Alaska
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$89,929
after federal, FICA and Alaska tax
Tax takes
$25,351
22.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$88,413
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
$115,280
Kept after tax
$89,929
Worth in national money
$88,413
State rank
2
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Alaska is one of the better-paying states for physical therapists. The middle earner takes $115,280, which ranks 2 of 51 states with published figures. That is about 12.18% above the national middle.
- Locally, this pays well. Among 430 occupations Alaska reports, physical therapists comes in at 38 — comfortably in the upper quarter.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $115,280 the take-home is $89,929, which is worth about $88,413 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is higher, $115,830, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Alaska ranks 2 of 51 states publishing a median for physical therapists, at $115,280 — about 12.18% 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.
- Physical therapists ranks 38 of 430 occupations by median in Alaska, 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.
- Alaska's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for physical therapists on its $115,280 median: $89,929 retained after tax becomes $88,413 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $115,830 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Physical Therapists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $97,950 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $115,280 |
| Top tenth earn over | $133,690 |
| This salary | $115,280 |
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 | $89,929 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $89,929 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$4,131 |
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 | $115,280 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$5,706 |
| 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 $115,280. The published range is $97,950 up to $133,690, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Alaska's $89,929, worked from $115,280. 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 38 of 430.
- One number stands for prices across all of Alaska, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $88,413, the adjusted value of that $115,280 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 38 of 430 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for physical therapists in Alaska the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $97,950 to $133,690. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The Alaska take-home of $89,929, on $115,280 for work ranking 38 of 430 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 38 of 430 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Alaska, so $88,413 — the adjusted value of that $115,280 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 38 of 430 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $97,950 at the tenth percentile, $133,690 at the ninetieth.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
Not on its own. Prices in Alaska run above the national level, so the same dollars buy less here. Adjusted for that, this pay is worth $88,413 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
No. $89,929 survives, because Alaska levies no wage income tax. The federal share does not change with the state you work in.
Can I compare this job across every state?
All 51 jurisdictions report this work, which makes the ranking a like-for-like one.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($97,950 to $133,690) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Alaska rather than a national figure.
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 $88,413 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 $89,929 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.
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.