Substance Abuse, Behavioral Disorder, and Mental Health Counselors in Georgia
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$47,211
after federal, FICA and Georgia tax
Tax takes
$11,749
19.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$48,823
Georgia costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Georgia — 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
$58,960
Kept after tax
$47,211
Worth in national money
$48,823
State rank
32
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. Georgia is 32 of 51 states for this job, with a middle wage of $58,960. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 226 among 492 occupations Georgia publishes pay for.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $58,960 you keep $47,211 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $48,823 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $61,310, since top earners drag the number up.
- Georgia ranks 32 of 51 for substance abuse, behavioral disorder, and mental health counselors at $58,960. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- Position 226 of 492 in Georgia 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 in Georgia is $47,211 after the full tax stack, from $58,960. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $48,823 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $61,310 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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 | $37,390 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $58,960 |
| Top tenth earn over | $90,980 |
| This salary | $58,960 |
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 Georgia | $47,211 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $49,554 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$2,172 |
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 | $56,044 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$2,627 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 97 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $58,960 as a midpoint for Georgia, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $37,390 and the ninetieth is $90,980 — 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 Georgia's $47,211, worked from $58,960. 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 226 of 492.
- One number stands for prices across all of Georgia, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $48,823, the adjusted value of that $58,960 median, as a way to compare states fairly, not as a quote for any particular place. The two datasets are also from different years. This job sits at 226 of 492 in the state.
- The Georgia median of $58,960 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $37,390 to $90,980. 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 Georgia take-home of $47,211, on $58,960 for work ranking 226 of 492 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 226 of 492 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Georgia, so $48,823 — the adjusted value of that $58,960 median — establishes comparability between states rather than accuracy within one. The wage and parity series are dated independently, each following its own publication cycle, and neither is projected forward. This occupation sits at 226 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 $61,310, 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 $37,390 and the top tenth $90,980 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
A smaller wage in a cheaper place is not automatically less. Adjusted for local prices, this is worth $48,823.
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 $47,211.
Can I compare this job across every state?
All 51 jurisdictions report this work, which makes the ranking a like-for-like 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 $61,310. 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 ($37,390) and the ninetieth ($90,980) 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 $48,823 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 $47,211 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.
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.