Veterinary Assistants and Laboratory Animal Caretakers in Wisconsin
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$30,826
after federal, FICA and Wisconsin tax
Tax takes
$6,024
16.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$33,111
Wisconsin costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Wisconsin — 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
$36,850
Kept after tax
$30,826
Worth in national money
$33,111
State rank
33
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Wisconsin pays this job around $36,850 at the midpoint, 33 of 51 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Against 491 occupations Wisconsin publishes, this job lands at 443. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $36,850 you keep $30,826 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $33,111 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $37,400, since top earners drag the number up.
- For veterinary assistants and laboratory animal caretakers the Wisconsin median is $36,850, ranking 33 of 51 states reporting. Mid-band nominal positions are the ones most frequently reordered by the adjustments, because no large wage premium exists to absorb a state's tax or price level.
- Within Wisconsin, this work ranks 443 of 491 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.
- Retained pay in Wisconsin is $30,826 after the full tax stack, from $36,850. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $33,111 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $37,400 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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 | $30,400 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $36,850 |
| Top tenth earn over | $45,630 |
| This salary | $36,850 |
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 Wisconsin | $30,826 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $31,789 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$398 |
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 | $35,651 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$482 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 93 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $36,850 as a midpoint for Wisconsin, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $30,400 and the ninetieth is $45,630 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In Wisconsin the take-home figure of $30,826, from $36,850, 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 443 of 491 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $33,111, the adjusted value of that $36,850 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Wisconsin. 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 443 of 491 locally.
- The Wisconsin median of $36,850 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $30,400 to $45,630. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Take-home for Wisconsin is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $30,826 from $36,850. 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 443 of 491 locally.
- This $33,111 adjusted figure, worked from $36,850, 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 443 of 491 in the state. The occupation ranks 443 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $30,400 at the tenth percentile, $45,630 at the ninetieth.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in Wisconsin sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $33,111 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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 Wisconsin adds its own income tax on top — which is why $30,826 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.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($30,400 to $45,630) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Wisconsin rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Wisconsin'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 $33,111 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 $30,826 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Wisconsin 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.