Recreation Workers in Arizona
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$30,453
after federal, FICA and Arizona tax
Tax takes
$5,347
14.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$30,120
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
$35,800
Kept after tax
$30,453
Worth in national money
$30,120
State rank
21
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. Arizona is 21 of 51 states for recreation workers, with a middle wage of $35,800. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- Within Arizona this is lower-paid work. Of 491 occupations the state publishes figures for, recreation workers ranks 469. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $35,800 the take-home is $30,453, which is worth about $30,120 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is higher, $39,380, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Arizona ranks 21 of 51 for recreation workers at $35,800. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- Against every occupation Arizona reports, recreation workers ranks 469 of 491, 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.
- Arizona's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for recreation workers on its $35,800 median: $30,453 retained after tax becomes $30,120 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $39,380 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Recreation Workers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $31,130 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $35,800 |
| Top tenth earn over | $51,310 |
| This salary | $35,800 |
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 | $30,453 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $30,945 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$1,725 |
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 | $35,187 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$2,086 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 101 |
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 recreation workers in Arizona earn under $35,800 and half over. The published range runs $31,130 at the tenth percentile to $51,310 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $30,453 take-home in Arizona comes from $35,800. 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 469 of 491.
- One number stands for prices across all of Arizona, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $30,120, the adjusted value of that $35,800 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 469 of 491 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for recreation workers in Arizona, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $31,130 to $51,310; 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 $30,453, from $35,800, assumes a single Arizona 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 469 of 491 locally, and the state ranks 21 of 51 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Arizona, so $30,120 — the adjusted value of that $35,800 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 469 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 $39,380 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 — $31,130 at the tenth percentile, $51,310 at the ninetieth.
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 $30,120 of national purchasing power.
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; Arizona then takes its own share, leaving $30,453.
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 $39,380. 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 ($31,130 to $51,310) 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 $30,120 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 $30,453 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.