Social Science Research Assistants in Florida
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$42,917
after federal, FICA and Florida tax
Tax takes
$7,783
15.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$41,485
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
$50,700
Kept after tax
$42,917
Worth in national money
$41,485
State rank
32
of 45 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Florida pays social science research assistants a middle wage of $50,700, 32 of 45 states and about 18.21% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. Social science research assistants ranks 268 among 493 occupations Florida publishes pay for.
- Florida is an expensive state, and the adjusted figure shows it. From $50,700 the take-home is $42,917; in national-average money that behaves like $41,485. The average comes to $54,530, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Florida's $50,700 median for social science research assistants places it 32 of 45 states, about 18.21% below national. Because both the tax and price adjustments tend to favor lower-nominal states, this ranking is the least stable of the three reported here.
- Position 268 of 493 in Florida places social science research assistants in the middle of the state's wage distribution. Because within-state and cross-state rankings measure different things, this figure and the national one above should be read together rather than as a single verdict.
- Take-home for social science research assistants in Florida, on $50,700, is $42,917; deflated by the state's price level, $41,485. ⚠️ The deflator is statewide, so it understates the erosion in the state's metropolitan areas and overstates it outside them. At $54,530 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
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: Social Science Research Assistants
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $33,190 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $50,700 |
| Top tenth earn over | $81,520 |
| This salary | $50,700 |
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 | $42,917 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $42,917 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$2,680 |
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 | $50,700 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$3,241 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 103 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Florida earn less than $50,700. The published range is $33,190 up to $81,520, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Florida's $42,917, worked from $50,700. 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 268 of 493.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $41,485 uses one figure for the whole of Florida. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 493 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 268.
- Reported values are medians; for social science research assistants in Florida the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $33,190 to $81,520. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The Florida take-home of $42,917, on $50,700 for work ranking 268 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 268 of 493 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $41,485, worked from $50,700, 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 Florida address, on work sitting at 268 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 $54,530 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?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $33,190 and the top tenth $81,520 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
The number and the value are different things. Florida costs more than the national average, so this take-home stretches like $41,485 rather than its face figure.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Most of it arrives. $42,917 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 Florida is $54,530. 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 ($33,190) and the ninetieth ($81,520) 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?
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 $41,485 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 $42,917 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.