Veterinary Assistants and Laboratory Animal Caretakers in Alaska
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$31,500
after federal, FICA and Alaska tax
Tax takes
$4,990
13.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$30,969
Alaska costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Alaska — 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
$36,490
Kept after tax
$31,500
Worth in national money
$30,969
State rank
35
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Alaska is among the lower-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $36,490, ranking 35 of 51 states — about 4.35% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
- Measured against other jobs in Alaska, this one sits low: 412 of 430 occupations with published pay, in the bottom quarter.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $36,490 the take-home is $31,500, which is worth about $30,969 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is higher, $37,520, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Alaska ranks 35 of 51 for veterinary assistants and laboratory animal caretakers, with a median of $36,490 — about 4.35% below the national figure. A nominal shortfall is not by itself a real one: lower-paying states frequently carry lower tax and lower price levels, and the adjusted figures below are where that is settled rather than assumed.
- Veterinary assistants and laboratory animal caretakers occupies position 412 of 430 in Alaska's occupational wage distribution, in the bottom quartile. National ranking and local ranking answer different questions and frequently disagree; this is the one a resident experiences.
- Alaska's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for veterinary assistants and laboratory animal caretakers on its $36,490 median: $31,500 retained after tax becomes $30,969 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $37,520 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Veterinary Assistants and Laboratory Animal Caretakers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $27,690 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $36,490 |
| Top tenth earn over | $47,010 |
| This salary | $36,490 |
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 Alaska | $31,500 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $31,500 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$1,447 |
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 | $36,490 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$1,750 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 102 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $36,490 as a midpoint for Alaska, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $27,690 and the ninetieth is $47,010 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $31,500 take-home in Alaska comes from $36,490. 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 412 of 430.
- One number stands for prices across all of Alaska, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $30,969, the adjusted value of that $36,490 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 412 of 430 in the state.
- The Alaska median of $36,490 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $27,690 to $47,010. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Retained pay of $31,500, from $36,490, assumes a single Alaska 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 412 of 430 locally, and the state ranks 35 of 51 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Alaska, so $30,969 — the adjusted value of that $36,490 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 412 of 430 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $27,690 and the top tenth $47,010, so most people doing this work in Alaska sit within a fairly tight band.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
The number and the value are different things. Alaska costs more than the national average, so this take-home stretches like $30,969 rather than its face figure.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Most of it arrives. $31,500 lands after tax, since there is no state income tax on wages here — though the federal floor is identical in every state.
Can I compare this job across every state?
All 51 jurisdictions report this work, which makes the ranking a like-for-like one.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($27,690 to $47,010) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Alaska rather than a national figure.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
Alaska's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $30,969 in national-average terms. ⚠️ RPPs are an all-items index; housing parities vary far more widely than the headline figure.
Why is the take-home ratio comparatively high in this state?
Alaska levies no personal income tax on wages, so take-home of $31,500 reflects the federal layer and FICA alone. Federal income tax and FICA are unchanged; states without a wage income tax generally recover revenue through consumption and property bases instead.
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.