Speech-Language Pathologists in Wisconsin
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$63,748
after federal, FICA and Wisconsin tax
Tax takes
$19,252
23.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$68,475
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
$83,000
Kept after tax
$63,748
Worth in national money
$68,475
State rank
39
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for speech-language pathologists is on the low side in Wisconsin. The middle earner gets $83,000. That is 39 of 51 states, and about 15.19% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in Wisconsin. It ranks 103 out of 491 occupations the state publishes figures for, which puts it in the top quarter locally.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $83,000 you keep $63,748 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $68,475 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $85,550, since top earners drag the number up.
- For speech-language pathologists, Wisconsin sits in the lower band at $83,000, ranking 39 of 51 and trailing the national median by about 15.19%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Within Wisconsin, speech-language pathologists ranks 103 of 491 occupations by median pay, placing it in the top quartile of the local distribution. This is the comparison a resident actually makes — against neighbors rather than against the same job elsewhere.
- Retained pay in Wisconsin is $63,748 after the full tax stack, from $83,000. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $68,475 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $85,550 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Speech-Language Pathologists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $61,320 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $83,000 |
| Top tenth earn over | $108,360 |
| This salary | $83,000 |
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 | $63,748 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $67,221 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$700 |
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 | $78,064 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$967 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 93 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $83,000 as a midpoint for Wisconsin, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $61,320 and the ninetieth is $108,360 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Wisconsin's $63,748, worked from $83,000. 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 103 of 491.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $68,475 uses one figure for the whole of Wisconsin. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 491 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 103.
- The Wisconsin median of $83,000 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $61,320 to $108,360. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- The Wisconsin take-home of $63,748, on $83,000 for work ranking 103 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 103 of 491 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $68,475, worked from $83,000, 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 Wisconsin address, on work sitting at 103 of 491 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 $85,550 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $61,320 at the tenth percentile, $108,360 at the ninetieth.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in Wisconsin sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $68,475 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Three of them are federal and one is not. After income tax, Social Security, Medicare and Wisconsin's own levy, $63,748 remains.
Can I compare this job across every state?
Yes for this one. Pay is published in all 51 jurisdictions, so a state-to-state comparison here rests on the same survey everywhere rather than on a patchwork.
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 $85,550. 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 is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($61,320 to $108,360) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Wisconsin rather than a national figure.
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 $68,475 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 $63,748 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.
Is this occupation's state coverage complete?
State-level estimates are published for all 51 jurisdictions for this occupation, so cross-state comparison is not confounded by suppression. ⚠️ Estimates remain survey-based and carry sampling error; small differences between adjacent states should not be over-read.