Recreational Therapists in Virginia
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$48,648
after federal, FICA and Virginia tax
Tax takes
$12,622
20.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$48,286
Virginia costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Virginia — 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
$61,270
Kept after tax
$48,648
Worth in national money
$48,286
State rank
19
of 48 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Virginia pays recreational therapists around $61,270 at the midpoint, 19 of 48 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. Recreational therapists ranks 233 among 489 occupations Virginia publishes pay for.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $61,270, tax leaves $48,648, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $48,286 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $66,490, since top earners drag the number up.
- For recreational therapists the Virginia median is $61,270, ranking 19 of 48 states reporting. Mid-band nominal positions are the ones most frequently reordered by the adjustments, because no large wage premium exists to absorb a state's tax or price level.
- Position 233 of 489 in Virginia 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.
- Because Virginia sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for recreational therapists — median $61,270 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $48,648 retained, $48,286 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $66,490 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 | $49,580 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $61,270 |
| Top tenth earn over | $87,020 |
| This salary | $61,270 |
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 Virginia | $48,648 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $51,410 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$4,619 |
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 | $57,832 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$5,586 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 101 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Virginia earn less than $61,270. The published range is $49,580 up to $87,020, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $48,648 take-home in Virginia comes from $61,270. 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 233 of 489.
- Two cautions on $48,286, the adjusted value of that $61,270 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Virginia. 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 233 of 489 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for recreational therapists in Virginia the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $49,580 to $87,020. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $48,648, from $61,270, assumes a single Virginia 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 233 of 489 locally, and the state ranks 19 of 48 for it.
- This $48,286 adjusted figure, worked from $61,270, 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 233 of 489 in the state. The occupation ranks 233 of 489 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $66,490, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $49,580 at the tenth percentile, $87,020 at the ninetieth.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
A larger wage in a dearer place is not automatically more. Adjusted for local prices, this pay behaves like $48,286 of national purchasing power.
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 Virginia adds its own income tax on top — which is why $48,648 of this wage survives to your account.
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 Virginia is $66,490. 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 ($49,580 to $87,020) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Virginia rather than a national figure.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
Virginia's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $48,286 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 $48,648 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Virginia 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.