Recreation Workers in Kansas
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$26,216
after federal, FICA and Kansas tax
Tax takes
$5,544
17.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$29,140
Kansas costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Kansas — 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
$31,760
Kept after tax
$26,216
Worth in national money
$29,140
State rank
40
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Kansas pays recreation workers a middle wage of $31,760, 40 of 51 states and about 13.13% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Within Kansas this is lower-paid work. Of 488 occupations the state publishes figures for, recreation workers ranks 457. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Here is where Kansas does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $31,760 you keep $26,216, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $29,140 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $32,720, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Kansas's $31,760 median for recreation workers places it 40 of 51 states, about 13.13% 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 Kansas reports, recreation workers ranks 457 of 488, 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.
- After federal, FICA and Kansas income tax, retained pay for recreation workers on $31,760 is $26,216. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $29,140 in national-average terms. ⚠️ That figure is purchasing power, not a wage, and nobody is paid it; it is what the take-home buys. The mean of $32,720 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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: Recreation Workers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $22,160 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $31,760 |
| Top tenth earn over | $45,250 |
| This salary | $31,760 |
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 Kansas | $26,216 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $27,699 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$635 |
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 | $29,914 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$768 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $31,760 as a midpoint for Kansas, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $22,160 and the ninetieth is $45,250 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $26,216 take-home in Kansas comes from $31,760. 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 457 of 488.
- Two cautions on $29,140, the adjusted value of that $31,760 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Kansas. 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 457 of 488 locally.
- The Kansas median of $31,760 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $22,160 to $45,250. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Retained pay of $26,216, from $31,760, assumes a single Kansas 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 457 of 488 locally, and the state ranks 40 of 51 for it.
- This $29,140 adjusted figure, worked from $31,760, 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 457 of 488 in the state. The occupation ranks 457 of 488 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $32,720, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $22,160, the highest tenth $45,250, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Kansas is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $29,140 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; Kansas then takes its own share, leaving $26,216.
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 Kansas is $32,720. 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 drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($22,160) and the ninetieth ($45,250) 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?
Kansas'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 $29,140 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 $26,216 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Kansas 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.