Substance Abuse, Behavioral Disorder, and Mental Health Counselors in Utah
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$50,673
after federal, FICA and Utah tax
Tax takes
$13,218
20.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$53,338
Utah costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Utah — 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
$63,890
Kept after tax
$50,673
Worth in national money
$53,338
State rank
8
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. Utah pays this job a middle wage of $63,890, ranking 8 of 51 states and sitting about 7.65% above the national middle.
- Against other work in Utah, this sits in the middle: 189 of 487 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Utah is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $63,890 the take-home is $50,673; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $53,338 would nationally. The average comes to $69,370, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Utah's median for substance abuse, behavioral disorder, and mental health counselors is $63,890, about 7.65% above the national figure and 8 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 189 of 487 occupations in Utah 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.
- Post-tax income for substance abuse, behavioral disorder, and mental health counselors in Utah, on $63,890, is $50,673 — equivalent to $53,338 once regional price parity is applied. ⚠️ The adjustment uses a statewide index that describes no particular address; within-state price variation, concentrated in housing, routinely exceeds the difference between two states. At $69,370 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
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 | $35,410 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $63,890 |
| Top tenth earn over | $106,080 |
| This salary | $63,890 |
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 Utah | $50,673 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $53,516 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$1,733 |
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 | $60,352 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$2,096 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 95 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $63,890 as a midpoint for Utah, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $35,410 and the ninetieth is $106,080 — 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 Utah's $50,673, worked from $63,890. 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 189 of 487.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $53,338 uses one figure for the whole of Utah. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 487 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 189.
- The Utah median of $63,890 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $35,410 to $106,080. 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 Utah take-home of $50,673, on $63,890 for work ranking 189 of 487 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 189 of 487 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $53,338, worked from $63,890, 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 Utah address, on work sitting at 189 of 487 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 $69,370 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $35,410, the highest tenth $106,080, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Utah is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $53,338 in national terms.
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 Utah's own levy, $50,673 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 Utah is $69,370. 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 ($35,410) and the ninetieth ($106,080) 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?
Utah'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 $53,338 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 $50,673 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Utah 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.