Substance Abuse, Behavioral Disorder, and Mental Health Counselors in Vermont
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$49,875
after federal, FICA and Vermont tax
Tax takes
$11,935
19.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$51,612
Vermont costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Vermont — 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
$61,810
Kept after tax
$49,875
Worth in national money
$51,612
State rank
17
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. Vermont pays this job a middle wage of $61,810, ranking 17 of 51 states and sitting about 4.14% above the national middle.
- Against other work in Vermont, this sits in the middle: 220 of 453 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $61,810 you keep $49,875 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $51,612 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $64,890, since top earners drag the number up.
- Vermont's median for substance abuse, behavioral disorder, and mental health counselors is $61,810, about 4.14% above the national figure and 17 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 220 of 453 occupations in Vermont 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 in Vermont is $49,875 after the full tax stack, from $61,810. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $51,612 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $64,890 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Substance Abuse, Behavioral Disorder, and Mental Health Counselors
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $47,820 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $61,810 |
| Top tenth earn over | $80,690 |
| This salary | $61,810 |
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 Vermont | $49,875 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $51,844 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$1,740 |
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 | $59,359 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$2,104 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 97 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- A median is the middle, not an offer. Half of substance abuse, behavioral disorder, and mental health counselors in Vermont earn under $61,810 and half over. The published range runs $47,820 at the tenth percentile to $80,690 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Vermont's $49,875, worked from $61,810. 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 220 of 453.
- One number stands for prices across all of Vermont, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $51,612, the adjusted value of that $61,810 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 220 of 453 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for substance abuse, behavioral disorder, and mental health counselors in Vermont, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $47,820 to $80,690; within-state dispersion of that width routinely exceeds the dispersion between states, so tenure, employer and metropolitan area predict an individual's pay better than geography does.
- The Vermont take-home of $49,875, on $61,810 for work ranking 220 of 453 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 220 of 453 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Vermont, so $51,612 — the adjusted value of that $61,810 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 220 of 453 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 $64,890 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $47,820 at the tenth percentile, $80,690 at the ninetieth.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Vermont is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $51,612 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 Vermont's own levy, $49,875 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 Vermont is $64,890. 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 is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($47,820 to $80,690) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Vermont rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Vermont'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 $51,612 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 $49,875 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Vermont 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.