Substance Abuse, Behavioral Disorder, and Mental Health Counselors in North Dakota
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$57,032
after federal, FICA and North Dakota tax
Tax takes
$11,598
16.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$64,391
North Dakota costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in North Dakota — 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
$68,630
Kept after tax
$57,032
Worth in national money
$64,391
State rank
5
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. North Dakota pays this job a middle wage of $68,630, ranking 5 of 51 states and sitting about 15.64% above the national middle.
- Against other work in North Dakota, this sits in the middle: 163 of 460 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Here is where North Dakota does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $68,630 you keep $57,032, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $64,391 would elsewhere. The average is lower, $67,940, so pay clusters nearer the top than usual.
- North Dakota's median for substance abuse, behavioral disorder, and mental health counselors is $68,630, about 15.64% above the national figure and 5 of 51 states reporting. Whether that premium reaches the worker depends on the two adjustments below, which is the part a wage table cannot tell you.
- Substance abuse, behavioral disorder, and mental health counselors ranks 163 of 460 occupations in North Dakota 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 North Dakota income tax, retained pay for substance abuse, behavioral disorder, and mental health counselors on $68,630 is $57,032. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $64,391 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 $67,940 falls below the median, a left skew that is uncommon in 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 | $43,270 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $68,630 |
| Top tenth earn over | $86,630 |
| This salary | $68,630 |
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 North Dakota | $57,032 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $57,111 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$5,619 |
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 | $68,518 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$7,762 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 89 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in North Dakota earn less than $68,630. The published range is $43,270 up to $86,630, 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 North Dakota's $57,032, worked from $68,630. 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 163 of 460.
- Two cautions on $64,391, the adjusted value of that $68,630 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of North Dakota. 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 163 of 460 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for substance abuse, behavioral disorder, and mental health counselors in North Dakota the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $43,270 to $86,630. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The North Dakota take-home of $57,032, on $68,630 for work ranking 163 of 460 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 163 of 460 in the state.
- This $64,391 adjusted figure, worked from $68,630, 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 163 of 460 in the state. The occupation ranks 163 of 460 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $43,270 at the tenth percentile, $86,630 at the ninetieth.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in North Dakota sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $64,391 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Into four separate taxes, not one. Federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare apply everywhere, and North Dakota adds its own income tax on top — which is why $57,032 of this wage survives to your account.
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.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($43,270 to $86,630) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to North Dakota rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
North Dakota'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 $64,391 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 $57,032 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and North Dakota 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.