Social Science Research Assistants in Nebraska
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$45,476
after federal, FICA and Nebraska tax
Tax takes
$10,714
19.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$50,318
Nebraska costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Nebraska — 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
$56,190
Kept after tax
$45,476
Worth in national money
$50,318
State rank
25
of 45 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. Nebraska is 25 of 45 states for social science research assistants, with a middle wage of $56,190. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- Against other work in Nebraska, this sits in the middle: 258 of 488 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Nebraska is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $56,190 the take-home is $45,476; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $50,318 would nationally. The average lands at $54,460, below the middle of the range.
- Nebraska ranks 25 of 45 for social science research assistants at $56,190. 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 258 of 488 occupations in Nebraska 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.
- Post-tax income for social science research assistants in Nebraska, on $56,190, is $45,476 — equivalent to $50,318 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 $54,460 the mean undershoots the median, an inversion of the usual skew.
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 | $37,830 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $56,190 |
| Top tenth earn over | $78,880 |
| This salary | $56,190 |
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 Nebraska | $45,476 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $47,329 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,614 |
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 | $53,884 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,951 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 90 |
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 Nebraska earn under $56,190 and half over. The published range runs $37,830 at the tenth percentile to $78,880 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $45,476 take-home in Nebraska comes from $56,190. 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 258 of 488.
- Two cautions on $50,318, the adjusted value of that $56,190 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Nebraska. 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 258 of 488 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for social science research assistants in Nebraska, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $37,830 to $78,880; 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 $45,476, from $56,190, assumes a single Nebraska 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 258 of 488 locally, and the state ranks 25 of 45 for it.
- This $50,318 adjusted figure, worked from $56,190, 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 258 of 488 in the state. The occupation ranks 258 of 488 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 $54,460 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 $37,830, the highest tenth $78,880, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Nebraska is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $50,318 in national terms.
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; Nebraska then takes its own share, leaving $45,476.
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 Nebraska is $54,460. 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 ($37,830) and the ninetieth ($78,880) 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?
Nebraska'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 $50,318 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 $45,476 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Nebraska 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.