Psychiatric Technicians in North Dakota
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$34,288
after federal, FICA and North Dakota tax
Tax takes
$5,672
14.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$38,712
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
$39,960
Kept after tax
$34,288
Worth in national money
$38,712
State rank
38
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. North Dakota pays psychiatric technicians a middle wage of $39,960, 38 of 49 states and about 11.46% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Within North Dakota this is lower-paid work. Of 460 occupations the state publishes figures for, psychiatric technicians ranks 391. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- North Dakota is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $39,960 the take-home is $34,288; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $38,712 would nationally. The average comes to $43,620, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- North Dakota's $39,960 median for psychiatric technicians places it 38 of 49 states, about 11.46% below national. Because both the tax and price adjustments tend to favor lower-nominal states, this ranking is the least stable of the three reported here.
- Against every occupation North Dakota reports, psychiatric technicians ranks 391 of 460, in the lowest quartile of the state's distribution. That position is set by the local labor market and is independent of how the state compares nationally for this work.
- Post-tax income for psychiatric technicians in North Dakota, on $39,960, is $34,288 — equivalent to $38,712 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 $43,620 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
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: Psychiatric Technicians
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $38,350 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $39,960 |
| Top tenth earn over | $55,760 |
| This salary | $39,960 |
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 | $34,288 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $34,288 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$3,427 |
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 | $39,960 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$4,145 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 89 |
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 psychiatric technicians in North Dakota earn under $39,960 and half over. The published range runs $38,350 at the tenth percentile to $55,760 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $34,288 take-home in North Dakota comes from $39,960. 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 391 of 460.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $38,712 uses one figure for the whole of North Dakota. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 460 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 391.
- Figures are distribution medians for psychiatric technicians in North Dakota, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $38,350 to $55,760; 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.
- Retained pay of $34,288, from $39,960, assumes a single North Dakota 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 391 of 460 locally, and the state ranks 38 of 49 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $38,712, worked from $39,960, 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 North Dakota address, on work sitting at 391 of 460 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 $43,620 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $38,350 at the tenth percentile, $55,760 at the ninetieth.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. North Dakota is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $38,712 in national terms.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Four deductions, stacked. The federal layer and the two payroll taxes apply wherever you work; North Dakota then takes its own share, leaving $34,288.
Why is this job missing from some states?
Because the survey suppresses a figure when too few employers report it. This occupation has published pay in 49 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
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 North Dakota is $43,620. 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 ($38,350 to $55,760) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to North Dakota rather than a national figure.
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 $38,712 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 $34,288 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.
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 49 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.