Social and Human Service Assistants in District of Columbia
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$47,538
after federal, FICA and District of Columbia tax
Tax takes
$11,922
20.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$42,903
District of Columbia costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in District of Columbia — 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
$59,460
Kept after tax
$47,538
Worth in national money
$42,903
State rank
1
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. District of Columbia pays this job a middle wage of $59,460, ranking 1 of 51 states and sitting about 29.46% above the national middle.
- Against other work in District of Columbia, this sits in the middle: 288 of 390 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- District of Columbia is an expensive state, and the adjusted figure shows it. From $59,460 the take-home is $47,538; in national-average money that behaves like $42,903. The average comes to $60,770, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- District of Columbia's median for social and human service assistants is $59,460, about 29.46% above the national figure and 1 of 51 states reporting. Whether that premium reaches the worker depends on the two adjustments below, which is the part a wage table cannot tell you.
- Social and human service assistants ranks 288 of 390 occupations in District of Columbia 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.
- Take-home for social and human service assistants in District of Columbia, on $59,460, is $47,538; deflated by the state's price level, $42,903. ⚠️ The deflator is statewide, so it understates the erosion in the state's metropolitan areas and overstates it outside them. At $60,770 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Social and Human Service Assistants
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $40,930 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $59,460 |
| Top tenth earn over | $86,090 |
| This salary | $59,460 |
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 District of Columbia | $47,538 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $49,956 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$8,506 |
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 | $56,450 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$10,287 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 111 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- A median is the middle, not an offer. Half of social and human service assistants in District of Columbia earn under $59,460 and half over. The published range runs $40,930 at the tenth percentile to $86,090 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In District of Columbia the take-home figure of $47,538, from $59,460, 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 288 of 390 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $42,903, the adjusted value of that $59,460 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of District of Columbia. 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 288 of 390 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for social and human service assistants in District of Columbia, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $40,930 to $86,090; within-state dispersion of that width routinely exceeds the dispersion between states, so tenure, employer and metropolitan area predict an individual's pay better than geography does.
- Take-home for District of Columbia is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $47,538 from $59,460. 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 288 of 390 locally.
- This $42,903 adjusted figure, worked from $59,460, 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 288 of 390 in the state. The occupation ranks 288 of 390 locally.
Questions people ask
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $40,930, the highest tenth $86,090, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
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 $42,903 of national purchasing power.
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 District of Columbia's own levy, $47,538 remains.
Can I compare this job across every state?
Yes for this one. Pay is published in all 51 jurisdictions, so a state-to-state comparison here rests on the same survey everywhere rather than on a patchwork.
What drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($40,930) and the ninetieth ($86,090) exceeds the family median dispersion. SOC codes aggregate roles differing in seniority, industry and specialisation, and BLS does not disaggregate below the detailed occupation level, so within-title variance is not separable from the published series.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
District of Columbia's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $42,903 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 $47,538 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and District of Columbia 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.
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.