Recreational Therapists in Nebraska
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$50,622
after federal, FICA and Nebraska tax
Tax takes
$12,358
19.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$56,013
Nebraska costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Nebraska — 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
$62,980
Kept after tax
$50,622
Worth in national money
$56,013
State rank
14
of 48 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for recreational therapists is strong here. Nebraska's middle earner gets $62,980, putting the state 14 of 48 — about 1.65% ahead of the national figure.
- Against other work in Nebraska, this sits in the middle: 183 of 488 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Here is where Nebraska does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $62,980 you keep $50,622, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $56,013 would elsewhere. The average is lower, $60,600, so pay clusters nearer the top than usual.
- For recreational therapists, Nebraska sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $62,980, ranking 14 of 48 and running about 1.65% above the national midpoint. Nominal advantage of this size is usually, though not always, large enough to survive the state's own tax and price levels.
- Recreational therapists ranks 183 of 488 occupations in Nebraska by median pay, in the middle bands. Within-state and national positions are separate measurements and a job commonly sits in different quartiles on each.
- After federal, FICA and Nebraska income tax, retained pay for recreational therapists on $62,980 is $50,622. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $56,013 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 $60,600 falls below the median, a left skew that is uncommon in wage data.
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Pay band: Recreational Therapists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $40,370 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $62,980 |
| Top tenth earn over | $79,080 |
| This salary | $62,980 |
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 Nebraska | $50,622 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $52,784 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,694 |
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 | $60,289 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,049 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $62,980 as a midpoint for Nebraska, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $40,370 and the ninetieth is $79,080 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $50,622 take-home in Nebraska comes from $62,980. 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 183 of 488.
- Two cautions on $56,013, the adjusted value of that $62,980 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Nebraska. 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 183 of 488 locally.
- The Nebraska median of $62,980 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $40,370 to $79,080. 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 $50,622, from $62,980, assumes a single Nebraska 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 183 of 488 locally, and the state ranks 14 of 48 for it.
- This $56,013 adjusted figure, worked from $62,980, 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 183 of 488 in the state. The occupation ranks 183 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 $60,600, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $40,370 at the bottom tenth to $79,080 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
A smaller wage in a cheaper place is not automatically less. Adjusted for local prices, this is worth $56,013.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Three of them are federal and one is not. After income tax, Social Security, Medicare and Nebraska's own levy, $50,622 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 48 states here, and a missing state means too few reports, not no jobs.
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 Nebraska is $60,600. 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 ($40,370 to $79,080) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Nebraska rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Nebraska'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 $56,013 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 $50,622 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Nebraska 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.
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.