What School Psychologists earn in Kings County, NY
According to the latest federal wage data for the New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ metropolitan area, the median pay for School Psychologists in Kings County, NY is $117,540 a year, or $56.51 an hour. After federal income tax, Social Security, Medicare and state income tax, the paycheck shrinks to $85,236 a year, and rent, food and energy take another bite. The sections below walk through each step with the actual math for Kings County, NY.
The mean wage is $117,730, which is 0.2% above the median, so pay is spread fairly evenly. The survey counts about 7,890 people working in this occupation across the New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ metropolitan area, so the estimate rests on a substantial pool of workers. Kings County, NY has roughly 2,631,580 residents, according to the population figures used by the rent data.
The salary range, from entry level to top earners
Pay for School Psychologists in the New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ metropolitan area is not one number. The lowest-paid tenth of workers earn up to $79,340 a year ($38.14 an hour), while the highest-paid tenth earn $150,060 or more ($72.14 an hour). That is a gap of $70,720 between the bottom and the top of the scale. The middle half of workers falls between $91,500 at the 25th percentile and $148,780 at the 75th percentile. A top-tier earner makes 1.9 times what someone at the bottom makes, so experience, certification and employer all matter.
What the hourly rate looks like
Employers quote this occupation by the hour or by the year, so here are both: $56.51 an hour or $117,540 a year at the median for Kings County, NY. Before any deductions, that is $9,795 a month, $4,521 every two weeks and $2,260 each week. After taxes the same job pays $40.98 per hour of take-home income, which is the number that actually has to cover rent and groceries.
About this occupation: School Psychologists
The U.S. Department of Labor's O*NET database describes the work of School Psychologists this way: "Diagnose and implement individual or schoolwide interventions or strategies to address educational, behavioral, or developmental issues that adversely impact educational functioning in a school. May address student learning and behavioral problems and counsel students or families. May design and implement performance plans, and evaluate performance. May consult with other school-based personnel."
Core tasks recorded by O*NET include: "Compile and interpret students' test results, along with information from teachers and parents, to diagnose conditions and to help assess eligibility for special services"; "Report any pertinent information to the proper authorities in cases of child endangerment, neglect, or abuse"; "Assess an individual child's needs, limitations, and potential, using observation, review of school records, and consultation with parents and school personnel"; "Select, administer, and score psychological tests".
Job outlook for School Psychologists
The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects national employment in this occupation to grow from 64,000 jobs in 2025 to 64,500 in 2035, a change of +0.8%, slower than the 3.5% projected for all occupations. The projection counts 3,400 openings a year on average, including positions created by growth and positions left by workers who retire or move to another occupation; that equals 5.3% of current employment each year.
Typical entry-level education: master's degree. Typical on-the-job training to reach competency: internship/residency. BLS lists a national median annual wage of $95,990 for this occupation; the Kings County, NY median of $117,540 is 22.5% above it.
How pay in Kings County, NY compares
Compared with the New York average
A worker in this occupation in Kings County, NY earns $8,635 more than the New York average of $108,905, a premium of 7.9%. Over a year that premium is worth $8,635 before tax and roughly $6,262 after tax. Within New York, Kings County, NY already has the highest median we track for this job.
Compared with the national average
The national employment-weighted average for School Psychologists is $98,664 across the contiguous United States. At $117,540, Kings County, NY pays $18,876 more, which is 19.1% above that benchmark. Keep in mind that a higher salary only helps if living costs do not rise faster, which is why the cost sections below matter as much as the headline number.
Where this job ranks in Kings County, NY
Among the 671 occupations with published wages in Kings County, NY, School Psychologists ranks number 112 by median pay, ahead of about 83% of them. The best-paying occupation we track here is Anesthesiologists at $460,800 a year, which is $343,260 more than the median for School Psychologists.
From gross pay to take-home pay
Three separate tax bills sit between the gross salary and the bank account: federal income tax, FICA, and state income tax. For School Psychologists earning the Kings County, NY median of $117,540, they add up to $32,304. The result is $85,236 of take-home pay a year ($7,103 a month), based on a single filer using the standard deduction.
Put another way, of every $100 earned, about $27 goes to taxes and $73 reaches the paycheck. The overall effective tax rate is 27.5%.
Federal income tax
After the $15,750 standard deduction, taxable income is $101,790. Federal brackets are marginal, so only the slice of income above each threshold is taxed at the higher rate; the last dollars of this salary fall in the 22% bracket. The resulting federal income tax is $17,308, an effective 14.7% of gross pay, well below the 22% marginal rate because the lower brackets are cheaper.
Social Security and Medicare (FICA)
Payroll taxes are a flat percentage of wages. Social Security takes 6.2% up to a wage base of $176,100, which costs $7,287 on this salary. Medicare takes 1.45%, or $1,704. FICA totals $8,992, which is 7.6% of gross pay.
State income tax in New York
New York income tax on this salary is $6,004 a year, or 5.1% of gross pay, after the state's own deductions and exemptions are applied. That is 35% of the federal income tax bill, and it comes out to $500 a month. Local taxes such as county or city income taxes are not included, so a few jurisdictions may withhold slightly more.
A cross-check with IRS data for Kings County, NY
IRS Statistics of Income data for Kings County, NY show an average adjusted gross income of $85,914 per return and an average effective federal income tax rate of 16.4% across all filers. Filers in the $100,000 to under $200,000 bracket, where this salary falls, paid an average of 13.8%, compared with the 14.7% estimated here for a single filer taking the standard deduction. Gaps between the two reflect filing status, dependents, credits and other income, none of which a single-person wage estimate includes.
Cost of living in Kings County, NY
Take-home pay only means something next to what life costs. We price four basics for one adult in Kings County, NY: a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline. All of them are converted to annual figures first, then compared with the $85,236 of take-home pay.
Rent
Housing is the largest line in most budgets. For Kings County, NY, HUD sets the Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom unit at $2,729 a month ($32,748 a year), and at $2,971 for two bedrooms. For School Psychologists, a one-bedroom absorbs 38.4% of take-home pay and 27.9% of gross pay.
Food
The USDA Thrifty Food Plan (August 2026) puts the cost of a nutritious home-cooked diet for an adult at about $3,436 a year, which is $286 a month or $66.07 a week. That equals 2.9% of gross pay for School Psychologists in Kings County, NY. It is a thrifty budget with no restaurant meals, so treat it as a floor.
Energy and gasoline
Using New York residential prices from the Energy Information Administration and national household averages for consumption, electricity costs about $2,581 a year and other home energy such as natural gas about $653, for $3,235 in total. Gasoline in New York averages $3.17 per gallon; at about 463 gallons a year (11,106 miles at 24 miles per gallon) fuel adds $1,467.
What is left over
Rent, food, energy and gasoline cost $40,885 a year in Kings County, NY. Subtract that from $85,236 of take-home pay and $44,351 remains, which is $3,696 a month of breathing room. That margin equals 37.7% of gross pay, a comfortable cushion by common budgeting rules.
Local housing and commute data for Kings County, NY
The budget above covers rent, food, energy and gasoline. Three more local facts shape what a paycheck buys in Kings County, NY: property taxes, housing prices and the daily commute. The figures below are exact U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 2020-2024 5-year estimates for Kings County, NY, set beside the New York and national medians.
Property taxes in Kings County, NY
Homeowners in Kings County, NY pay a median of $6,382 a year in real estate taxes, 3% below the New York median of $6,582 and 105% above the U.S. median of $3,119. Against a median home value of $905,000, the median tax bill is 0.71% of that value (the ratio of the two county medians). For a worker paid the local School Psychologists median of $117,540, a tax bill of that size would equal 5.4% of gross pay, which matters for anyone planning to buy rather than rent.
Rents, home prices and household income in Kings County, NY
Renters in Kings County, NY pay a median gross rent of $1,833 a month in the Census survey, 13% above the New York median of $1,621. HUD's Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom apartment, which this site uses in the budget, is $2,729 a month; the two measures differ because the Census figure covers units of every size that renters already occupy, while the HUD figure is a one-bedroom benchmark. The median value of an owner-occupied home is $905,000, 114% above the New York median of $423,800. Median household income is $80,263, 7% below the New York median of $85,974, so a year of one-bedroom Fair Market Rent equals 40.8% of that income.
Commuting in Kings County, NY
Workers in Kings County, NY who travel to a workplace spend an average of 41.7 minutes each way, 28% above the New York average of 32.6. For someone who commutes five days a week, that is 7.0 hours of round-trip travel every week, a cost the budget does not price. 19.1% of workers in Kings County, NY work from home, compared with 15.1% nationally, which removes the commute for them.
Can School Psychologists afford to live in Kings County, NY?
The 30% rent guideline
A common rule of thumb says rent should stay under 30% of gross income. For a gross salary of $117,540 that ceiling is $2,939 a month. The one-bedroom Fair Market Rent of $2,729 is $210 under it, so rent fits the guideline. Put as a wage, covering a one-bedroom at the 30% guideline takes $52.48 an hour; the median for School Psychologists is $56.51, which is 8% above that mark. Another way to see it: at $40.98 of take-home pay an hour, a one-bedroom takes about 15.4 working hours every week.
Splitting a two-bedroom
Sharing a two-bedroom at $2,971 a month means $1,486 each. Compared with renting a one-bedroom alone, that saves $14,922 a year. With a roommate, the yearly margin after the basics becomes $59,273.
How fast you can save
At $3,696 a month of margin, building a $10,000 emergency fund would take about 3 months. Setting aside half of the margin stretches the same goal to about 6 months. These figures ignore interest, raises and any spending beyond the four basics.
Frequently asked questions about School Psychologists pay in Kings County, NY
How much do School Psychologists make per hour in Kings County, NY?
The median is $56.51 per hour, based on $117,540 a year over 2,080 hours. Hourly pay runs from about $38.14 at the 10th percentile to $72.14 at the 90th percentile.
How much do School Psychologists take home after taxes in Kings County, NY?
After federal income tax, FICA and state income tax, the median salary of $117,540 becomes $85,236 a year. That is $7,103 a month, $3,278 every two weeks or $1,639 a week.
How much tax do School Psychologists pay in Kings County, NY?
Total taxes are $32,304 a year, an effective rate of 27.5%: $17,308 federal income tax, $8,992 FICA and $6,004 New York income tax.
Do School Psychologists earn more in Kings County, NY than elsewhere in New York?
Yes. The local median of $117,540 is +7.9% versus the New York average of $108,905, a difference of $8,635 a year.
Can School Psychologists afford a one-bedroom apartment in Kings County, NY?
A one-bedroom costs $2,729 a month against take-home pay of $7,103, which is 38.4% of take-home pay. That meets the 30%-of-gross guideline, which allows up to $2,939 a month.
What is the monthly budget margin for School Psychologists in Kings County, NY?
About $3,696 a month ($44,351 a year) remains after a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline, which together cost $40,885 a year.
What hourly wage covers a one-bedroom in Kings County, NY at the 30% guideline?
$52.48 an hour for a full-time schedule, calculated as the $32,748 annual rent divided by 0.30 and by 2,080 hours. The median for School Psychologists is $56.51.
How we calculated these numbers
Wages are May 2025 medians from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey for the New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ metropolitan area; hourly-only values are annualized at 2,080 hours. Rents are HUD Fair Market Rents, food costs come from the USDA Thrifty Food Plan, and energy prices come from the Energy Information Administration. County-level tax statistics come from the IRS Statistics of Income.
Taxes use tax-year 2025 federal brackets, FICA rates and the New York rules for a single filer with wage income only. Figures are estimates for planning and comparison, not tax or financial advice, and they exclude local income taxes, benefits, retirement contributions and individual circumstances.