Physical Therapists in Arizona
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$79,267
after federal, FICA and Arizona tax
Tax takes
$23,953
23.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$78,401
Arizona costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Arizona — 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
$103,220
Kept after tax
$79,267
Worth in national money
$78,401
State rank
13
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for physical therapists is strong here. Arizona's middle earner gets $103,220, putting the state 13 of 51 — about 0.45% ahead of the national figure.
- Locally, this pays well. Among 491 occupations Arizona reports, physical therapists comes in at 50 — comfortably in the upper quarter.
- No great distortion either way. Arizona costs about what the country costs, so from $103,220, take-home of $79,267 is worth roughly $78,401 in national money. The average comes to $107,360, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For physical therapists, Arizona sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $103,220, ranking 13 of 51 and running about 0.45% above the national midpoint. Nominal advantage of this size is usually, though not always, large enough to survive the state's own tax and price levels.
- Physical therapists ranks 50 of 491 occupations by median in Arizona, 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.
- Price parity in Arizona is near the national base, so for physical therapists, whose median is $103,220, the adjusted figure of $78,401 differs little from $79,267 retained after tax. The state's position for this occupation is therefore set by wage and tax rather than by living costs. At $107,360 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Physical Therapists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $81,560 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $103,220 |
| Top tenth earn over | $134,050 |
| This salary | $103,220 |
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 Arizona | $79,267 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $81,445 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$5,412 |
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 | $100,124 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$7,476 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 101 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Arizona earn less than $103,220. The published range is $81,560 up to $134,050, 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 Arizona's $79,267, worked from $103,220. 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 50 of 491.
- Two cautions on $78,401, the adjusted value of that $103,220 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Arizona. 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 50 of 491 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for physical therapists in Arizona the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $81,560 to $134,050. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The Arizona take-home of $79,267, on $103,220 for work ranking 50 of 491 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 50 of 491 in the state.
- This $78,401 adjusted figure, worked from $103,220, 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 50 of 491 in the state. The occupation ranks 50 of 491 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 $107,360 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $81,560 and the top tenth $134,050, so most people doing this work in Arizona sit within a fairly tight band.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
A larger wage in a dearer place is not automatically more. Adjusted for local prices, this pay behaves like $78,401 of national purchasing power.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Into four separate taxes, not one. Federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare apply everywhere, and Arizona adds its own income tax on top — which is why $79,267 of this wage survives to your account.
Can I compare this job across every state?
All 51 jurisdictions report this work, which makes the ranking a like-for-like one.
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 Arizona is $107,360. 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 ($81,560 to $134,050) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Arizona rather than a national figure.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
Arizona's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $78,401 in national-average terms. ⚠️ RPPs are an all-items index; housing parities vary far more widely than the headline figure.
What accounts for the gap between gross wage and take-home here?
Take-home of $79,267 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Arizona 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.