Recreational Therapists in Florida
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$48,767
after federal, FICA and Florida tax
Tax takes
$9,213
15.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$47,140
Florida costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Florida — 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
$57,980
Kept after tax
$48,767
Worth in national money
$47,140
State rank
27
of 48 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. Florida is 27 of 48 states for recreational therapists, with a middle wage of $57,980. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. Recreational therapists ranks 230 among 493 occupations Florida publishes pay for.
- Costs eat into it here. Of $57,980, tax leaves $48,767 — and because Florida is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $47,140 would nationally. Averages run higher here, $60,090, since top earners drag the number up.
- Florida ranks 27 of 48 for recreational therapists at $57,980. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- Position 230 of 493 in Florida places recreational therapists in the middle of the state's wage distribution. Because within-state and cross-state rankings measure different things, this figure and the national one above should be read together rather than as a single verdict.
- After tax, $48,767 remains from the Florida median of $57,980 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $47,140 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $60,090 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Recreational Therapists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $41,400 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $57,980 |
| Top tenth earn over | $86,610 |
| This salary | $57,980 |
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 Florida | $48,767 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $48,767 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$3,045 |
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 | $57,980 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$3,683 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 103 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $57,980 as a midpoint for Florida, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $41,400 and the ninetieth is $86,610 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $48,767 take-home in Florida comes from $57,980. 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 230 of 493.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $47,140 uses one figure for the whole of Florida. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 493 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 230.
- The Florida median of $57,980 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $41,400 to $86,610. 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 $48,767, from $57,980, assumes a single Florida 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 230 of 493 locally, and the state ranks 27 of 48 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $47,140, worked from $57,980, 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 Florida address, on work sitting at 230 of 493 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $60,090, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $41,400 and the top tenth $86,610 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
The number and the value are different things. Florida costs more than the national average, so this take-home stretches like $47,140 rather than its face figure.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
No. $48,767 survives, because Florida levies no wage income tax. The federal share does not change with the state you work in.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 48 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release 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 Florida is $60,090. 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 ($41,400) and the ninetieth ($86,610) 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.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
Florida's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $47,140 in national-average terms. ⚠️ RPPs are an all-items index; housing parities vary far more widely than the headline figure.
Why is the take-home ratio comparatively high in this state?
Florida levies no personal income tax on wages, so take-home of $48,767 reflects the federal layer and FICA alone. Federal income tax and FICA are unchanged; states without a wage income tax generally recover revenue through consumption and property bases instead.
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 48 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.