Physician Assistants in North Dakota
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$101,136
after federal, FICA and North Dakota tax
Tax takes
$32,314
24.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$114,185
North Dakota costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in North Dakota — 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
$133,450
Kept after tax
$101,136
Worth in national money
$114,185
State rank
31
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- North Dakota sits in the middle of the pack for physician assistants. The median is $133,450, ranking 31 of 51 states with figures. Close enough to the national middle that where you live matters more than the headline suggests.
- Locally, this pays well. Among 460 occupations North Dakota reports, physician assistants comes in at 11 — comfortably in the upper quarter.
- North Dakota is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $133,450 the take-home is $101,136; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $114,185 would nationally. The average lands at $130,930, below the middle of the range.
- North Dakota occupies the middle band for physician assistants: a median of $133,450, ranking 31 of 51. Where nominal pay is close to the national figure, the tax and price adjustments below carry proportionally more weight in determining the real outcome.
- Physician assistants ranks 11 of 460 occupations by median in North Dakota, 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 physician assistants in North Dakota, on $133,450, is $101,136 — equivalent to $114,185 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 $130,930 the mean undershoots the median, an inversion of the usual skew.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Physician Assistants
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $77,300 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $133,450 |
| Top tenth earn over | $173,860 |
| This salary | $133,450 |
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 North Dakota | $101,136 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $102,479 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$8,727 |
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 | $131,485 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$12,407 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 89 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $133,450 as a midpoint for North Dakota, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $77,300 and the ninetieth is $173,860 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind North Dakota's $101,136, worked from $133,450. 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 11 of 460.
- One number stands for prices across all of North Dakota, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $114,185, the adjusted value of that $133,450 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 11 of 460 in the state.
- The North Dakota median of $133,450 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $77,300 to $173,860. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- The North Dakota take-home of $101,136, on $133,450 for work ranking 11 of 460 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 11 of 460 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for North Dakota, so $114,185 — the adjusted value of that $133,450 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 11 of 460 locally.
Questions people ask
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
The label is broader than the work. From $77,300 at the bottom tenth to $173,860 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 $114,185.
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 North Dakota adds its own income tax on top — which is why $101,136 of this wage survives to your account.
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 ($77,300) and the ninetieth ($173,860) 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?
North Dakota'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 $114,185 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 $101,136 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and North Dakota 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.