Veterinary Assistants and Laboratory Animal Caretakers in Arizona
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$32,360
after federal, FICA and Arizona tax
Tax takes
$5,890
15.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$32,006
Arizona costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Arizona — 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
$38,250
Kept after tax
$32,360
Worth in national money
$32,006
State rank
17
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is strong here. Arizona's middle earner gets $38,250, putting the state 17 of 51 — about 0.26% ahead of the national figure.
- Within Arizona this is lower-paid work. Of 491 occupations the state publishes figures for, this job ranks 444. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- No great distortion either way. Arizona costs about what the country costs, so from $38,250, take-home of $32,360 is worth roughly $32,006 in national money. The average comes to $40,630, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For veterinary assistants and laboratory animal caretakers, Arizona sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $38,250, ranking 17 of 51 and running about 0.26% above the national midpoint. Nominal advantage of this size is usually, though not always, large enough to survive the state's own tax and price levels.
- Against every occupation Arizona reports, veterinary assistants and laboratory animal caretakers ranks 444 of 491, in the lowest quartile of the state's distribution. That position is set by the local labor market and is independent of how the state compares nationally for this work.
- Price parity in Arizona is near the national base, so for veterinary assistants and laboratory animal caretakers, whose median is $38,250, the adjusted figure of $32,006 differs little from $32,360 retained after tax. The state's position for this occupation is therefore set by wage and tax rather than by living costs. At $40,630 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
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 | $35,530 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $38,250 |
| Top tenth earn over | $47,460 |
| This salary | $38,250 |
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 Arizona | $32,360 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $32,914 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$1,864 |
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 | $37,561 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$2,255 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 101 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $38,250 as a midpoint for Arizona, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $35,530 and the ninetieth is $47,460 — 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 Arizona's $32,360, worked from $38,250. 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 444 of 491.
- Two cautions on $32,006, the adjusted value of that $38,250 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Arizona. 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 444 of 491 locally.
- The Arizona median of $38,250 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $35,530 to $47,460. 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 Arizona take-home of $32,360, on $38,250 for work ranking 444 of 491 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 444 of 491 in the state.
- This $32,006 adjusted figure, worked from $38,250, 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 444 of 491 in the state. The occupation ranks 444 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $40,630, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $35,530 at the bottom tenth to $47,460 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
The number and the value are different things. Arizona costs more than the national average, so this take-home stretches like $32,006 rather than its face figure.
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 Arizona adds its own income tax on top — which is why $32,360 of this wage survives to your account.
Can I compare this job across every state?
All 51 jurisdictions report this work, which makes the ranking a like-for-like one.
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 Arizona is $40,630. 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 ($35,530 to $47,460) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Arizona rather than a national figure.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
Arizona's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $32,006 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 $32,360 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Arizona 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.