Recreational Therapists in Nevada
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$64,217
after federal, FICA and Nevada tax
Tax takes
$14,513
18.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$66,216
Nevada costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Nevada — 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
$78,730
Kept after tax
$64,217
Worth in national money
$66,216
State rank
4
of 48 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. Nevada pays recreational therapists a middle wage of $78,730, ranking 4 of 48 states and sitting about 27.07% above the national middle.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. Recreational therapists ranks 134 among 485 occupations Nevada publishes pay for.
- Nevada is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $78,730 the take-home is $64,217; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $66,216 would nationally. The average lands at $71,530, below the middle of the range.
- Nevada's median for recreational therapists is $78,730, about 27.07% above the national figure and 4 of 48 states reporting. Whether that premium reaches the worker depends on the two adjustments below, which is the part a wage table cannot tell you.
- Position 134 of 485 in Nevada 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.
- Post-tax income for recreational therapists in Nevada, on $78,730, is $64,217 — equivalent to $66,216 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 $71,530 the mean undershoots the median, an inversion of the usual skew.
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Pay band: Recreational Therapists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $46,380 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $78,730 |
| Top tenth earn over | $98,630 |
| This salary | $78,730 |
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 Nevada | $64,217 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $64,217 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$133 |
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 | $78,730 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$184 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 97 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Nevada earn less than $78,730. The published range is $46,380 up to $98,630, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- In Nevada the take-home figure of $64,217, from $78,730, assumes one filer, no dependants, and nothing paid into a pension before tax. Each of those lowers the bill, so treat it as the plain case. City and school-district income taxes are not included either, and in a few states those are real money. It ranks 134 of 485 occupations here.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $66,216 uses one figure for the whole of Nevada. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 485 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 134.
- Reported values are medians; for recreational therapists in Nevada the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $46,380 to $98,630. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Take-home for Nevada is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $64,217 from $78,730. Each omitted item reduces taxable income, so the figure is a lower bound on retained pay for this household shape. Municipal and school-district income taxes are excluded, which understates the burden materially in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The occupation ranks 134 of 485 locally.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $66,216, worked from $78,730, 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 Nevada address, on work sitting at 134 of 485 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
Half earn more than this and half earn less. The average sits at $71,530 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $46,380 and the top tenth $98,630, so most people doing this work in Nevada sit within a fairly tight band.
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 $66,216.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Most of it arrives. $64,217 lands after tax, since there is no state income tax on wages here — though the federal floor is identical in every state.
Why is this job missing from some states?
Because the survey suppresses a figure when too few employers report it. This occupation has published pay in 48 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
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 Nevada is $71,530. 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 ($46,380 to $98,630) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Nevada rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Nevada'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 $66,216 in national-average terms. The adjustment uses an all-items index and does not isolate housing.
Why is the take-home ratio comparatively high in this state?
Nevada levies no personal income tax on wages, so take-home of $64,217 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.