Respiratory Therapists in Florida
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$65,926
after federal, FICA and Florida tax
Tax takes
$15,234
18.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$63,726
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
$81,160
Kept after tax
$65,926
Worth in national money
$63,726
State rank
27
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. Florida is 27 of 51 states for respiratory therapists, with a middle wage of $81,160. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in Florida. It ranks 101 out of 493 occupations the state publishes figures for, which puts it in the top quarter locally.
- Costs eat into it here. Of $81,160, tax leaves $65,926 — and because Florida is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $63,726 would nationally. Averages run higher here, $82,400, since top earners drag the number up.
- Florida ranks 27 of 51 for respiratory therapists at $81,160. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- Within Florida, respiratory therapists ranks 101 of 493 occupations by median pay, placing it in the top quartile of the local distribution. This is the comparison a resident actually makes — against neighbors rather than against the same job elsewhere.
- After tax, $65,926 remains from the Florida median of $81,160 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $63,726 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $82,400 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
Choose your filing status and local taxes, compare pay, and keep a shortlist.Compare wage and personal-pay outcomes by state, with selected resident local taxes and saved career choices.
Pay band: Respiratory Therapists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $64,240 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $81,160 |
| Top tenth earn over | $100,310 |
| This salary | $81,160 |
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 | $65,926 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $65,926 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$4,116 |
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 | $81,160 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$5,686 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 103 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $81,160 as a midpoint for Florida, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $64,240 and the ninetieth is $100,310 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In Florida the take-home figure of $65,926, from $81,160, 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 101 of 493 occupations here.
- One number stands for prices across all of Florida, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $63,726, the adjusted value of that $81,160 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 101 of 493 in the state.
- The Florida median of $81,160 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $64,240 to $100,310. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Take-home for Florida is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $65,926 from $81,160. 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 101 of 493 locally.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Florida, so $63,726 — the adjusted value of that $81,160 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 101 of 493 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $64,240 at the bottom tenth to $100,310 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 Florida run above the national level, so the same dollars buy less here. Adjusted for that, this pay is worth $63,726 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Most of it arrives. $65,926 lands after tax, since there is no state income tax on wages here — though the federal floor is identical in every state.
Can I compare this job across every state?
This occupation is published everywhere — all 51 of them — so comparing states measures real differences rather than gaps in the data.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($64,240 to $100,310) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Florida rather than a national figure.
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 $63,726 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 $65,926 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.
Is this occupation's state coverage complete?
State-level estimates are published for all 51 jurisdictions for this occupation, so cross-state comparison is not confounded by suppression. ⚠️ Estimates remain survey-based and carry sampling error; small differences between adjacent states should not be over-read.