Social Science Research Assistants in Georgia

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

May 2025 wages · tax year 2026

You keep

$52,972

after federal, FICA and Georgia tax

Tax takes

$13,648

20.5% of the whole

Worth, in national money

$54,780

Georgia costs less 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

$66,620

Kept after tax

$52,972

Worth in national money

$54,780

State rank

4

of 45 states

What this pays, and what it is worth

  • Pay for social science research assistants is strong here. Georgia's middle earner gets $66,620, putting the state 4 of 45 — about 7.47% ahead of the national figure.
  • Ordinary, locally speaking. Social science research assistants ranks 176 among 492 occupations Georgia publishes pay for.
  • Georgia is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $66,620 the take-home is $52,972; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $54,780 would nationally. The average comes to $78,740, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
  • For social science research assistants, Georgia sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $66,620, ranking 4 of 45 and running about 7.47% above the national midpoint. Nominal advantage of this size is usually, though not always, large enough to survive the state's own tax and price levels.
  • Position 176 of 492 in Georgia 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.
  • Post-tax income for social science research assistants in Georgia, on $66,620, is $52,972 — equivalent to $54,780 once regional price parity is applied. ⚠️ The adjustment uses a statewide index that describes no particular address; within-state price variation, concentrated in housing, routinely exceeds the difference between two states. At $78,740 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.

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Pay band: Social Science Research Assistants

The state median for this job

50thpercentile, roughly
Lowest tenth earn under$40,650
Half earn under$66,620
Top tenth earn over$136,810
This salary$66,620

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
+$2,726take-home per year in Texas
Take-home in Georgia$52,972
Take-home in Texas$55,697
Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity+$2,536

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 · $66,620$63,537
$63,537in Texas, for the same life
To match take-home only$63,213
You could take a cut of−$3,083
Prices in Texas97 vs 97

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 science research assistants in Georgia earn under $66,620 and half over. The published range runs $40,650 at the tenth percentile to $136,810 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
  • That $52,972 take-home in Georgia comes from $66,620. It is the no-frills case: single filer, standard deduction, nothing set aside before tax. Real circumstances almost always reduce the tax. City and school-district taxes are not counted at all. Locally the work ranks 176 of 492.
  • Two cautions on $54,780, the adjusted value of that $66,620 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Georgia. 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 176 of 492 locally.
  • Figures are distribution medians for social science research assistants in Georgia, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $40,650 to $136,810; 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.
  • Retained pay of $52,972, from $66,620, assumes a single Georgia filer with the standard deduction and no elective deferrals. Pre-tax retirement or HSA contributions, dependants and itemized deductions all reduce it further; local income taxes, excluded here, would increase it in the states that levy them. This occupation ranks 176 of 492 locally, and the state ranks 4 of 45 for it.
  • This $54,780 adjusted figure, worked from $66,620, 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 176 of 492 in the state. The occupation ranks 176 of 492 locally.

Questions people ask

Is this the average pay for the job?

No — it is the middle. Half of these workers earn more and half earn less. The average is $78,740, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.

Why is the pay range for this job so wide?

Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $40,650 and the top tenth $136,810 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.

What does this pay actually buy where I live?

More than the figure suggests. Prices in Georgia sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $54,780 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.

Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?

Four deductions, stacked. The federal layer and the two payroll taxes apply wherever you work; Georgia then takes its own share, leaving $52,972.

Why is this job missing from some states?

A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 45 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release one.

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 Georgia is $78,740. 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 ($40,650) and the ninetieth ($136,810) 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.

What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?

Georgia's regional price parity is at or below the national average, so nominal wages understate purchasing power. Take-home deflated by the state price level is $54,780 in national-average terms. The adjustment uses an all-items index and does not isolate housing.

What accounts for the gap between gross wage and take-home here?

Take-home of $52,972 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Georgia 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.