Social Workers, All Other in Wisconsin
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$50,389
after federal, FICA and Wisconsin tax
Tax takes
$12,441
19.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$54,125
Wisconsin costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Wisconsin — 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
$62,830
Kept after tax
$50,389
Worth in national money
$54,125
State rank
39
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Wisconsin pays social workers, all other a middle wage of $62,830, 39 of 50 states and about 12.61% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Against other work in Wisconsin, this sits in the middle: 216 of 491 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Here is where Wisconsin does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $62,830 you keep $50,389, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $54,125 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $68,600, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Wisconsin's $62,830 median for social workers, all other places it 39 of 50 states, about 12.61% 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.
- Social workers, all other ranks 216 of 491 occupations in Wisconsin 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.
- After federal, FICA and Wisconsin income tax, retained pay for social workers, all other on $62,830 is $50,389. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $54,125 in national-average terms. ⚠️ That figure is purchasing power, not a wage, and nobody is paid it; it is what the take-home buys. The mean of $68,600 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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 Workers, All Other
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $45,720 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $62,830 |
| Top tenth earn over | $98,840 |
| This salary | $62,830 |
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 Wisconsin | $50,389 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $52,664 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$70 |
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 | $59,998 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$85 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 93 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Wisconsin earn less than $62,830. The published range is $45,720 up to $98,840, 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 Wisconsin's $50,389, worked from $62,830. 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 216 of 491.
- Two cautions on $54,125, the adjusted value of that $62,830 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Wisconsin. 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 216 of 491 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for social workers, all other in Wisconsin the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $45,720 to $98,840. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The Wisconsin take-home of $50,389, on $62,830 for work ranking 216 of 491 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 216 of 491 in the state.
- This $54,125 adjusted figure, worked from $62,830, 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 216 of 491 in the state. The occupation ranks 216 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $68,600, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $45,720, the highest tenth $98,840, 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. Wisconsin is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $54,125 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; Wisconsin then takes its own share, leaving $50,389.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 50 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 Wisconsin is $68,600. 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 ($45,720) and the ninetieth ($98,840) 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?
Wisconsin'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 $54,125 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 $50,389 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Wisconsin 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 50 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.