Veterinary Assistants and Laboratory Animal Caretakers in New York
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$36,317
after federal, FICA and New York tax
Tax takes
$8,433
18.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$33,744
New York costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in New York — 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
$44,750
Kept after tax
$36,317
Worth in national money
$33,744
State rank
9
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is strong here. New York's middle earner gets $44,750, putting the state 9 of 51 — about 17.3% ahead of the national figure.
- Against 493 occupations New York publishes, this job lands at 418. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Costs eat into it here. Of $44,750, tax leaves $36,317 — and because New York is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $33,744 would nationally. Here the average runs under the middle, at $43,880.
- For veterinary assistants and laboratory animal caretakers, New York sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $44,750, ranking 9 of 51 and running about 17.3% 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.
- Within New York, this work ranks 418 of 493 occupations by median pay, in the bottom quartile. The within-state position is the more salient one for anyone weighing this job against alternatives available to them locally.
- After tax, $36,317 remains from the New York median of $44,750 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $33,744 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $43,880 sits under the median, so the lower tail is the longer one.
Compare this career across states
Choose your filing status and local taxes, compare pay, and keep a shortlist.Compare wage and personal-pay outcomes by state, with selected resident local taxes and saved career choices.
Pay band: Veterinary Assistants and Laboratory Animal Caretakers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $36,450 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $44,750 |
| Top tenth earn over | $53,460 |
| This salary | $44,750 |
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 New York | $36,317 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $38,137 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$5,501 |
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 | $42,486 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$6,653 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 108 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $44,750 as a midpoint for New York, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $36,450 and the ninetieth is $53,460 — 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 New York's $36,317, worked from $44,750. 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 418 of 493.
- Two cautions on $33,744, the adjusted value of that $44,750 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of New York. 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 418 of 493 locally.
- The New York median of $44,750 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $36,450 to $53,460. 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 New York take-home of $36,317, on $44,750 for work ranking 418 of 493 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 418 of 493 in the state.
- This $33,744 adjusted figure, worked from $44,750, 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 418 of 493 in the state. The occupation ranks 418 of 493 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $36,450 at the bottom tenth to $53,460 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
Not on its own. Prices in New York run above the national level, so the same dollars buy less here. Adjusted for that, this pay is worth $33,744 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.
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 New York's own levy, $36,317 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.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($36,450 to $53,460) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to New York rather than a national figure.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
New York's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $33,744 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 $36,317 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and New York 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.