Recreation Workers in Utah
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$27,144
after federal, FICA and Utah tax
Tax takes
$5,747
17.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$28,572
Utah costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Utah — 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
$32,890
Kept after tax
$27,144
Worth in national money
$28,572
State rank
33
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. Utah is 33 of 51 states for recreation workers, with a middle wage of $32,890. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- Against 487 occupations Utah publishes, recreation workers lands at 467. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Utah is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $32,890 the take-home is $27,144; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $28,572 would nationally. The average comes to $34,700, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Utah ranks 33 of 51 for recreation workers at $32,890. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- Within Utah, this work ranks 467 of 487 occupations by median pay, in the bottom quartile. The within-state position is the more salient one for anyone weighing this job against alternatives available to them locally.
- Post-tax income for recreation workers in Utah, on $32,890, is $27,144 — equivalent to $28,572 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 $34,700 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Recreation Workers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $22,520 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $32,890 |
| Top tenth earn over | $47,450 |
| This salary | $32,890 |
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 Utah | $27,144 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $28,607 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$867 |
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 | $31,068 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$1,049 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 95 |
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 Utah earn under $32,890 and half over. The published range runs $22,520 at the tenth percentile to $47,450 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $27,144 take-home in Utah comes from $32,890. 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 467 of 487.
- One number stands for prices across all of Utah, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $28,572, the adjusted value of that $32,890 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 467 of 487 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for recreation workers in Utah, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $22,520 to $47,450; 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 $27,144, from $32,890, assumes a single Utah 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 467 of 487 locally, and the state ranks 33 of 51 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Utah, so $28,572 — the adjusted value of that $32,890 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 467 of 487 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
No — it is the middle. Half of these workers earn more and half earn less. The average is $34,700, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $22,520 and the top tenth $47,450 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Utah is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $28,572 in national terms.
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 Utah adds its own income tax on top — which is why $27,144 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.
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 Utah is $34,700. 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 ($22,520) and the ninetieth ($47,450) 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?
Utah'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 $28,572 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 $27,144 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Utah 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.