Substance Abuse, Behavioral Disorder, and Mental Health Counselors in New York
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$47,335
after federal, FICA and New York tax
Tax takes
$12,115
20.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$43,981
New York costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in New York — 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
$59,450
Kept after tax
$47,335
Worth in national money
$43,981
State rank
28
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. New York pays this job around $59,450 at the midpoint, 28 of 51 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Against other work in New York, this sits in the middle: 302 of 493 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- The wage here flatters the reality. From $59,450 the take-home is $47,335. But New York costs more than the national average, so that money behaves more like $43,981 would elsewhere. Worth knowing before comparing offers across states. The average is higher, $64,040, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For substance abuse, behavioral disorder, and mental health counselors the New York median is $59,450, ranking 28 of 51 states reporting. Mid-band nominal positions are the ones most frequently reordered by the adjustments, because no large wage premium exists to absorb a state's tax or price level.
- Substance abuse, behavioral disorder, and mental health counselors ranks 302 of 493 occupations in New York 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.
- Retained pay after federal, FICA and New York income tax is $47,335 for substance abuse, behavioral disorder, and mental health counselors, from $59,450. The state's price level exceeds the national average, so the price-adjusted equivalent is $43,981. ⚠️ 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 $64,040 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 | $42,410 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $59,450 |
| Top tenth earn over | $90,590 |
| This salary | $59,450 |
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 New York | $47,335 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $49,948 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$7,419 |
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 | $56,198 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$8,973 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 108 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in New York earn less than $59,450. The published range is $42,410 up to $90,590, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $47,335 take-home in New York comes from $59,450. 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 302 of 493.
- Two cautions on $43,981, the adjusted value of that $59,450 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of New York. 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 302 of 493 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for substance abuse, behavioral disorder, and mental health counselors in New York the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $42,410 to $90,590. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $47,335, from $59,450, assumes a single New York 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 302 of 493 locally, and the state ranks 28 of 51 for it.
- This $43,981 adjusted figure, worked from $59,450, 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 302 of 493 in the state. The occupation ranks 302 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 $64,040, 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?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $42,410, the highest tenth $90,590, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
Not on its own. Prices in New York run above the national level, so the same dollars buy less here. Adjusted for that, this pay is worth $43,981 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.
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 New York's own levy, $47,335 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 New York is $64,040. 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 ($42,410) and the ninetieth ($90,590) 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?
New York's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $43,981 in national-average terms. ⚠️ RPPs are an all-items index; housing parities vary far more widely than the headline figure.
What accounts for the gap between gross wage and take-home here?
Take-home of $47,335 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and New York 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.