Social Science Research Assistants in Connecticut

A sunlit research desk with a laptop, reference books, an abacus and a magnifying glass.

May 2025 wages · tax year 2026

You keep

$47,922

after federal, FICA and Connecticut tax

Tax takes

$12,188

20.3% of the whole

Worth, in national money

$46,217

Connecticut costs more than average

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

$60,110

Kept after tax

$47,922

Worth in national money

$46,217

State rank

21

of 45 states

What this pays, and what it is worth

  • Connecticut sits in the middle of the pack for social science research assistants. The median is $60,110, ranking 21 of 45 states with figures. Close enough to the national middle that where you live matters more than the headline suggests.
  • Middle of the local pack. Of 482 occupations Connecticut reports figures for, this is number 285.
  • Costs eat into it here. Of $60,110, tax leaves $47,922 — and because Connecticut is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $46,217 would nationally. Averages run higher here, $62,260, since top earners drag the number up.
  • Connecticut occupies the middle band for social science research assistants: a median of $60,110, ranking 21 of 45. Where nominal pay is close to the national figure, the tax and price adjustments below carry proportionally more weight in determining the real outcome.
  • In Connecticut's occupational distribution, social science research assistants sits at 285 of 482 — neither quartile. This local position is what a resident compares against, and it is determined by the state's own labor market rather than by national patterns for this occupation.
  • After tax, $47,922 remains from the Connecticut median of $60,110 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $46,217 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $62,260 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.

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Pay band: Social Science Research Assistants

The state median for this job

50thpercentile, roughly
Lowest tenth earn under$35,860
Half earn under$60,110
Top tenth earn over$88,270
This salary$60,110

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

Compare with
+$2,556take-home per year in Texas
Take-home in Connecticut$47,922
Take-home in Texas$50,478
Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity+$5,728

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

Moving to
$0now · $60,110$53,182
$53,182in Texas, for the same life
To match take-home only$56,929
You could take a cut of−$6,928
Prices in Texas97 vs 104

State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.

Sources and assumptions
  • Treat $60,110 as a midpoint for Connecticut, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $35,860 and the ninetieth is $88,270 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
  • In Connecticut the take-home figure of $47,922, from $60,110, 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 285 of 482 occupations here.
  • Two cautions on $46,217, the adjusted value of that $60,110 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Connecticut. 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 285 of 482 locally.
  • The Connecticut median of $60,110 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $35,860 to $88,270. 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 Connecticut is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $47,922 from $60,110. 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 285 of 482 locally.
  • This $46,217 adjusted figure, worked from $60,110, 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 285 of 482 in the state. The occupation ranks 285 of 482 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 $62,260 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 $35,860, the highest tenth $88,270, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.

Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?

Not on its own. Prices in Connecticut run above the national level, so the same dollars buy less here. Adjusted for that, this pay is worth $46,217 — 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 Connecticut adds its own income tax on top — which is why $47,922 of this wage survives to your account.

Why is this job missing from some states?

Because the survey suppresses a figure when too few employers report it. This occupation has published pay in 45 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.

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 Connecticut is $62,260. 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 ($35,860) and the ninetieth ($88,270) 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?

Connecticut's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $46,217 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 $47,922 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Connecticut 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 45 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.