Recreational Therapists in New York
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$51,884
after federal, FICA and New York tax
Tax takes
$13,636
20.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$48,208
New York costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in New York — 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
$65,520
Kept after tax
$51,884
Worth in national money
$48,208
State rank
9
of 48 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for recreational therapists is strong here. New York's middle earner gets $65,520, putting the state 9 of 48 — about 5.75% ahead of the national figure.
- Against other work in New York, this sits in the middle: 255 of 493 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- The wage here flatters the reality. From $65,520 the take-home is $51,884. But New York costs more than the national average, so that money behaves more like $48,208 would elsewhere. Worth knowing before comparing offers across states. The average is higher, $68,960, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For recreational therapists, New York sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $65,520, ranking 9 of 48 and running about 5.75% 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 255 of 493 occupations in New York 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.
- Retained pay after federal, FICA and New York income tax is $51,884 for recreational therapists, from $65,520. The state's price level exceeds the national average, so the price-adjusted equivalent is $48,208. ⚠️ This is purchasing power and not a wage; cross-state offer comparisons that stop at the nominal figure systematically overvalue high-cost states. The mean of $68,960 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Recreational Therapists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $49,940 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $65,520 |
| Top tenth earn over | $91,370 |
| This salary | $65,520 |
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 New York | $51,884 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $54,825 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$8,211 |
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 | $61,860 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$9,931 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 108 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in New York earn less than $65,520. The published range is $49,940 up to $91,370, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $51,884 take-home in New York comes from $65,520. 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 255 of 493.
- One number stands for prices across all of New York, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $48,208, the adjusted value of that $65,520 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 255 of 493 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for recreational therapists in New York the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $49,940 to $91,370. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $51,884, from $65,520, assumes a single New York 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 255 of 493 locally, and the state ranks 9 of 48 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for New York, so $48,208 — the adjusted value of that $65,520 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 255 of 493 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 $68,960 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $49,940 at the bottom tenth to $91,370 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
Not on its own. Prices in New York run above the national level, so the same dollars buy less here. Adjusted for that, this pay is worth $48,208 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.
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 New York adds its own income tax on top — which is why $51,884 of this wage survives to your account.
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 New York is $68,960. 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 ($49,940 to $91,370) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to New York rather than a national figure.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
New York's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $48,208 in national-average terms. ⚠️ RPPs are an all-items index; housing parities vary far more widely than the headline figure.
What accounts for the gap between gross wage and take-home here?
Take-home of $51,884 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and New York 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.