Social Science Research Assistants in Alaska
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$52,182
after federal, FICA and Alaska tax
Tax takes
$10,048
16.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$51,302
Alaska costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Alaska — 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
$62,230
Kept after tax
$52,182
Worth in national money
$51,302
State rank
16
of 45 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. Alaska is 16 of 45 states for social science research assistants, with a middle wage of $62,230. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- Against other work in Alaska, this sits in the middle: 240 of 430 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- No great distortion either way. Alaska costs about what the country costs, so from $62,230, take-home of $52,182 is worth roughly $51,302 in national money. The average comes to $66,830, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Alaska ranks 16 of 45 for social science research assistants at $62,230. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- Social science research assistants ranks 240 of 430 occupations in Alaska 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.
- Price parity in Alaska is near the national base, so for social science research assistants, whose median is $62,230, the adjusted figure of $51,302 differs little from $52,182 retained after tax. The state's position for this occupation is therefore set by wage and tax rather than by living costs. At $66,830 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Social Science Research Assistants
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $37,450 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $62,230 |
| Top tenth earn over | $115,440 |
| This salary | $62,230 |
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 Alaska | $52,182 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $52,182 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$2,397 |
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 | $62,230 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$2,899 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 102 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $62,230 as a midpoint for Alaska, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $37,450 and the ninetieth is $115,440 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In Alaska the take-home figure of $52,182, from $62,230, 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 240 of 430 occupations here.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $51,302 uses one figure for the whole of Alaska. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 430 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 240.
- The Alaska median of $62,230 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $37,450 to $115,440. 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 Alaska is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $52,182 from $62,230. 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 240 of 430 locally.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $51,302, worked from $62,230, deflates by a statewide parity that conceals substantial intra-state variation, concentrated in housing — so it supports comparison between states rather than the pricing of a move to a particular Alaska address, on work sitting at 240 of 430 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 $66,830 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $37,450, the highest tenth $115,440, 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 $51,302 of national purchasing power.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Most of it arrives. $52,182 lands after tax, since there is no state income tax on wages here — though the federal floor is identical in every state.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 45 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 Alaska is $66,830. 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 drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($37,450) and the ninetieth ($115,440) 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?
Alaska's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $51,302 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?
Alaska levies no personal income tax on wages, so take-home of $52,182 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.
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 45 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.