Substance Abuse, Behavioral Disorder, and Mental Health Counselors in Florida
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$47,811
after federal, FICA and Florida tax
Tax takes
$8,979
15.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$46,215
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
$56,790
Kept after tax
$47,811
Worth in national money
$46,215
State rank
37
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is on the low side in Florida. The middle earner gets $56,790. That is 37 of 51 states, and about 4.31% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 240 among 493 occupations Florida publishes pay for.
- The wage here flatters the reality. From $56,790 the take-home is $47,811. But Florida costs more than the national average, so that money behaves more like $46,215 would elsewhere. Worth knowing before comparing offers across states. The average is higher, $61,030, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For substance abuse, behavioral disorder, and mental health counselors, Florida sits in the lower band at $56,790, ranking 37 of 51 and trailing the national median by about 4.31%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Position 240 of 493 in Florida places substance abuse, behavioral disorder, and mental health counselors 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.
- Retained pay after federal, FICA and Florida income tax is $47,811 for substance abuse, behavioral disorder, and mental health counselors, from $56,790. The state's price level exceeds the national average, so the price-adjusted equivalent is $46,215. ⚠️ This is purchasing power and not a wage; cross-state offer comparisons that stop at the nominal figure systematically overvalue high-cost states. The mean of $61,030 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Substance Abuse, Behavioral Disorder, and Mental Health Counselors
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $39,430 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $56,790 |
| Top tenth earn over | $84,410 |
| This salary | $56,790 |
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 | $47,811 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $47,811 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$2,985 |
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 | $56,790 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$3,610 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 103 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $56,790 as a midpoint for Florida, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $39,430 and the ninetieth is $84,410 — 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 Florida's $47,811, worked from $56,790. 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 240 of 493.
- Two cautions on $46,215, the adjusted value of that $56,790 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Florida. 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 240 of 493 locally.
- The Florida median of $56,790 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $39,430 to $84,410. 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 Florida take-home of $47,811, on $56,790 for work ranking 240 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 240 of 493 in the state.
- This $46,215 adjusted figure, worked from $56,790, 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 240 of 493 in the state. The occupation ranks 240 of 493 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 $61,030, 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 $39,430 and the top tenth $84,410 — 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 $46,215 rather than its face figure.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
No. $47,811 survives, because Florida levies no wage income tax. The federal share does not change with the state you work in.
Can I compare this job across every state?
This occupation is published everywhere — all 51 of them — so comparing states measures real differences rather than gaps in the data.
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 $61,030. 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 ($39,430) and the ninetieth ($84,410) 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 $46,215 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 $47,811 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.
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.