Veterinary Assistants and Laboratory Animal Caretakers in North Dakota
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$32,038
after federal, FICA and North Dakota tax
Tax takes
$5,122
13.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$36,172
North Dakota costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in North Dakota — 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
$37,160
Kept after tax
$32,038
Worth in national money
$36,172
State rank
27
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. North Dakota is 27 of 51 states for this job, with a middle wage of $37,160. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- Within North Dakota this is lower-paid work. Of 460 occupations the state publishes figures for, this job ranks 421. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $37,160 you keep $32,038 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $36,172 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $39,540, since top earners drag the number up.
- North Dakota ranks 27 of 51 for veterinary assistants and laboratory animal caretakers at $37,160. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- Against every occupation North Dakota reports, veterinary assistants and laboratory animal caretakers ranks 421 of 460, 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.
- Retained pay in North Dakota is $32,038 after the full tax stack, from $37,160. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $36,172 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $39,540 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Veterinary Assistants and Laboratory Animal Caretakers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $33,800 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $37,160 |
| Top tenth earn over | $46,830 |
| This salary | $37,160 |
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 North Dakota | $32,038 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $32,038 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$3,202 |
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 | $37,160 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$3,873 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 89 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in North Dakota earn less than $37,160. The published range is $33,800 up to $46,830, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- In North Dakota the take-home figure of $32,038, from $37,160, assumes one filer, no dependants, and nothing paid into a pension before tax. Each of those lowers the bill, so treat it as the plain case. City and school-district income taxes are not included either, and in a few states those are real money. It ranks 421 of 460 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $36,172, the adjusted value of that $37,160 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of North Dakota. 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 421 of 460 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for veterinary assistants and laboratory animal caretakers in North Dakota the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $33,800 to $46,830. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Take-home for North Dakota is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $32,038 from $37,160. Each omitted item reduces taxable income, so the figure is a lower bound on retained pay for this household shape. Municipal and school-district income taxes are excluded, which understates the burden materially in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The occupation ranks 421 of 460 locally.
- This $36,172 adjusted figure, worked from $37,160, 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 421 of 460 in the state. The occupation ranks 421 of 460 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $39,540, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $33,800 and the top tenth $46,830, so most people doing this work in North Dakota sit within a fairly tight band.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. North Dakota is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $36,172 in national terms.
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 North Dakota adds its own income tax on top — which is why $32,038 of this wage survives to your account.
Can I compare this job across every state?
This occupation is published everywhere — all 51 of them — so comparing states measures real differences rather than gaps in the data.
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 North Dakota is $39,540. 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 ($33,800 to $46,830) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to North Dakota rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
North Dakota'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 $36,172 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 $32,038 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and North Dakota 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.