Recreation Workers in Wisconsin
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$29,830
after federal, FICA and Wisconsin tax
Tax takes
$5,700
16.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$32,042
Wisconsin costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Wisconsin — 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
$35,530
Kept after tax
$29,830
Worth in national money
$32,042
State rank
23
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. Wisconsin is 23 of 51 states for recreation workers, with a middle wage of $35,530. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- Within Wisconsin this is lower-paid work. Of 491 occupations the state publishes figures for, recreation workers ranks 459. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $35,530 you keep $29,830 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $32,042 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $37,400, since top earners drag the number up.
- Wisconsin ranks 23 of 51 for recreation workers at $35,530. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- Against every occupation Wisconsin reports, recreation workers ranks 459 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.
- Retained pay in Wisconsin is $29,830 after the full tax stack, from $35,530. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $32,042 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $37,400 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Recreation Workers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $26,440 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $35,530 |
| Top tenth earn over | $50,980 |
| This salary | $35,530 |
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 Wisconsin | $29,830 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $30,728 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$420 |
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 | $34,412 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$508 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 93 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Wisconsin earn less than $35,530. The published range is $26,440 up to $50,980, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $29,830 take-home in Wisconsin comes from $35,530. 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 459 of 491.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $32,042 uses one figure for the whole of Wisconsin. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 491 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 459.
- Reported values are medians; for recreation workers in Wisconsin the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $26,440 to $50,980. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $29,830, from $35,530, assumes a single Wisconsin 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 459 of 491 locally, and the state ranks 23 of 51 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $32,042, worked from $35,530, 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 Wisconsin address, on work sitting at 459 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $37,400, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $26,440 and the top tenth $50,980, so most people doing this work in Wisconsin sit within a fairly tight band.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in Wisconsin sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $32,042 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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 Wisconsin adds its own income tax on top — which is why $29,830 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 Wisconsin is $37,400. 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 ($26,440 to $50,980) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Wisconsin rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Wisconsin'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 $32,042 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 $29,830 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Wisconsin 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.