Social and Human Service Assistants in New York
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$38,146
after federal, FICA and New York tax
Tax takes
$9,044
19.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$35,443
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
$47,190
Kept after tax
$38,146
Worth in national money
$35,443
State rank
14
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- New York is one of the better-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $47,190, which ranks 14 of 51 states with published figures. That is about 2.74% above the national middle.
- Measured against other jobs in New York, this one sits low: 394 of 493 occupations with published pay, in the bottom quarter.
- New York is an expensive state, and the adjusted figure shows it. From $47,190 the take-home is $38,146; in national-average money that behaves like $35,443. The average comes to $49,080, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- New York ranks 14 of 51 states publishing a median for social and human service assistants, at $47,190 — about 2.74% above the national median. A state's position on nominal pay is the figure wage tables report and the least informative of the three on this page, because it survives neither the tax adjustment nor the price adjustment intact for most occupations.
- Social and human service assistants occupies position 394 of 493 in New York's occupational wage distribution, in the bottom quartile. National ranking and local ranking answer different questions and frequently disagree; this is the one a resident experiences.
- Take-home for social and human service assistants in New York, on $47,190, is $38,146; deflated by the state's price level, $35,443. ⚠️ The deflator is statewide, so it understates the erosion in the state's metropolitan areas and overstates it outside them. At $49,080 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 | $35,980 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $47,190 |
| Top tenth earn over | $64,430 |
| This salary | $47,190 |
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 | $38,146 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $40,097 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$5,820 |
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 | $44,762 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$7,038 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 108 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $47,190 as a midpoint for New York, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $35,980 and the ninetieth is $64,430 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind New York's $38,146, worked from $47,190. That is on purpose. It lets states be compared with each other, not with each other's family circumstances. Local city taxes are left out. Locally this work ranks 394 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 $35,443, the adjusted value of that $47,190 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 394 of 493 in the state.
- The New York median of $47,190 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $35,980 to $64,430. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- The New York take-home of $38,146, on $47,190 for work ranking 394 of 493 locally, models the simplest household deliberately: holding it constant is what makes the interstate comparison meaningful. It also means the absolute figure overstates liability for most real filers, and municipal income taxes are outside the model entirely. The occupation ranks 394 of 493 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for New York, so $35,443 — the adjusted value of that $47,190 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 394 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 $49,080 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $35,980 at the tenth percentile, $64,430 at the ninetieth.
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 $35,443 — 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 $38,146 of this wage survives to your account.
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.
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 $49,080. 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 ($35,980 to $64,430) 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 $35,443 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 $38,146 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.
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.