What Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses earn in Dawson County, GA
If you are weighing a move or a job offer, start with $65,060: the median annual pay for Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses in Dawson County, GA. Spread over a standard 2,080-hour work year, that is $31.28 an hour. Because the wage survey covers the whole Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA metropolitan area, the number reflects employers across the region rather than a single town or a single company.
The mean wage is $64,890, which is 0.3% below the median, so pay is spread fairly evenly. The survey counts about 9,710 people working in this occupation across the Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA metropolitan area, so the estimate rests on a substantial pool of workers. Dawson County, GA has roughly 30,242 residents, according to the population figures used by the rent data.
The salary range, from entry level to top earners
Pay for Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses in the Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA metropolitan area is not one number. The lowest-paid tenth of workers earn up to $48,130 a year ($23.14 an hour), while the highest-paid tenth earn $79,740 or more ($38.34 an hour). That is a gap of $31,610 between the bottom and the top of the scale. The middle half of workers falls between $58,980 at the 25th percentile and $73,630 at the 75th percentile. A top-tier earner makes 1.7 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: $31.28 an hour or $65,060 a year at the median for Dawson County, GA. Before any deductions, that is $5,422 a month, $2,502 every two weeks and $1,251 each week. After taxes the same job pays $24.79 per hour of take-home income, which is the number that actually has to cover rent and groceries.
About this occupation: Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses
The U.S. Department of Labor's O*NET database describes the work of Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses this way: "Care for ill, injured, or convalescing patients or persons with disabilities in hospitals, nursing homes, clinics, private homes, group homes, and similar institutions. May work under the supervision of a registered nurse. Licensing required."
Core tasks recorded by O*NET include: "Observe patients, charting and reporting changes in patients' conditions, such as adverse reactions to medication or treatment, and taking any necessary action"; "Administer prescribed medications or start intravenous fluids, noting times and amounts on patients' charts"; "Answer patients' calls and determine how to assist them"; "Measure and record patients' vital signs, such as height, weight, temperature, blood pressure, pulse, or respiration".
Job outlook for Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses
The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects national employment in this occupation to grow from 666,900 jobs in 2025 to 686,700 in 2035, a change of +3%, slower than the 3.5% projected for all occupations. The projection counts 51,800 openings a year on average, including positions created by growth and positions left by workers who retire or move to another occupation; that equals 7.8% of current employment each year.
Typical entry-level education: postsecondary nondegree award. BLS lists a national median annual wage of $64,400 for this occupation; the Dawson County, GA median of $65,060 is 1.0% above it.
How pay in Dawson County, GA compares
Compared with the Georgia average
A worker in this occupation in Dawson County, GA earns $3,200 more than the Georgia average of $61,860, a premium of 5.2%. Over a year that premium is worth $3,200 before tax and roughly $2,537 after tax. Within Georgia, Dawson County, GA already has the highest median we track for this job.
Compared with the national average
The national employment-weighted average for Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses is $66,910 across the contiguous United States. At $65,060, Dawson County, GA pays $1,850 less, which is 2.8% below 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 Dawson County, GA
Among the 585 occupations with published wages in Dawson County, GA, Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses ranks number 241 by median pay, ahead of about 59% of them. The best-paying occupation we track here is Airline Pilots, Copilots, and Flight Engineers at $618,090 a year, which is $553,030 more than the median for Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses.
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 Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses earning the Dawson County, GA median of $65,060, they add up to $13,493. The result is $51,567 of take-home pay a year ($4,297 a month), based on a single filer using the standard deduction.
Put another way, of every $100 earned, about $21 goes to taxes and $79 reaches the paycheck. The overall effective tax rate is 20.7%.
Federal income tax
After the $15,750 standard deduction, taxable income is $49,310. 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 $5,762, an effective 8.9% 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 $4,034 on this salary. Medicare takes 1.45%, or $943. FICA totals $4,977, which is 7.6% of gross pay.
State income tax in Georgia
Georgia income tax on this salary is $2,754 a year, or 4.2% of gross pay, after the state's own deductions and exemptions are applied. That is 48% of the federal income tax bill, and it comes out to $229 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 Dawson County, GA
IRS Statistics of Income data for Dawson County, GA show an average adjusted gross income of $89,212 per return and an average effective federal income tax rate of 12.7% across all filers. Filers in the $50,000 to under $75,000 bracket, where this salary falls, paid an average of 7.0%, compared with the 8.9% 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 Dawson County, GA
Take-home pay only means something next to what life costs. We price four basics for one adult in Dawson County, GA: a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline. All of them are converted to annual figures first, then compared with the $51,567 of take-home pay.
Rent
Housing is the largest line in most budgets. For Dawson County, GA, HUD sets the Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom unit at $1,619 a month ($19,428 a year), and at $1,762 for two bedrooms. For Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses, a one-bedroom absorbs 37.7% of take-home pay and 29.9% 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 5.3% of gross pay for Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses in Dawson County, GA. It is a thrifty budget with no restaurant meals, so treat it as a floor.
Energy and gasoline
Using Georgia residential prices from the Energy Information Administration and national household averages for consumption, electricity costs about $1,488 a year and other home energy such as natural gas about $720, for $2,207 in total. Gasoline in Georgia averages $2.95 per gallon; at about 463 gallons a year (11,106 miles at 24 miles per gallon) fuel adds $1,366.
What is left over
Rent, food, energy and gasoline cost $26,437 a year in Dawson County, GA. Subtract that from $51,567 of take-home pay and $25,130 remains, which is $2,094 a month of breathing room. That margin equals 38.6% of gross pay, a comfortable cushion by common budgeting rules.
Local housing and commute data for Dawson County, GA
The budget above covers rent, food, energy and gasoline. Three more local facts shape what a paycheck buys in Dawson County, GA: 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 Dawson County, GA, set beside the Georgia and national medians.
Property taxes in Dawson County, GA
Homeowners in Dawson County, GA pay a median of $2,430 a year in real estate taxes, 4% above the Georgia median of $2,341 and 22% below the U.S. median of $3,119. Against a median home value of $406,700, the median tax bill is 0.60% of that value (the ratio of the two county medians). For a worker paid the local Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses median of $65,060, a tax bill of that size would equal 3.7% of gross pay, which matters for anyone planning to buy rather than rent.
Rents, home prices and household income in Dawson County, GA
Renters in Dawson County, GA pay a median gross rent of $1,626 a month in the Census survey, 17% above the Georgia median of $1,393. HUD's Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom apartment, which this site uses in the budget, is $1,619 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 $406,700, 34% above the Georgia median of $303,300. Median household income is $92,991, 20% above the Georgia median of $77,353, so a year of one-bedroom Fair Market Rent equals 20.9% of that income.
Commuting in Dawson County, GA
Workers in Dawson County, GA who travel to a workplace spend an average of 30.8 minutes each way, 9% above the Georgia average of 28.3. For someone who commutes five days a week, that is 5.1 hours of round-trip travel every week, a cost the budget does not price. 14.7% of workers in Dawson County, GA work from home, compared with 15.1% nationally, which removes the commute for them.
Can Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses afford to live in Dawson County, GA?
The 30% rent guideline
A common rule of thumb says rent should stay under 30% of gross income. For a gross salary of $65,060 that ceiling is $1,627 a month. The one-bedroom Fair Market Rent of $1,619 is $8 under it, so rent fits the guideline. Put as a wage, covering a one-bedroom at the 30% guideline takes $31.13 an hour; the median for Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses is $31.28, which is 0% above that mark. Another way to see it: at $24.79 of take-home pay an hour, a one-bedroom takes about 15.1 working hours every week.
Splitting a two-bedroom
Sharing a two-bedroom at $1,762 a month means $881 each. Compared with renting a one-bedroom alone, that saves $8,856 a year. With a roommate, the yearly margin after the basics becomes $33,986.
How fast you can save
At $2,094 a month of margin, building a $10,000 emergency fund would take about 5 months. Setting aside half of the margin stretches the same goal to about 10 months. These figures ignore interest, raises and any spending beyond the four basics.
Frequently asked questions about Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses pay in Dawson County, GA
How much do Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses make per hour in Dawson County, GA?
The median is $31.28 per hour, based on $65,060 a year over 2,080 hours. Hourly pay runs from about $23.14 at the 10th percentile to $38.34 at the 90th percentile.
How much do Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses take home after taxes in Dawson County, GA?
After federal income tax, FICA and state income tax, the median salary of $65,060 becomes $51,567 a year. That is $4,297 a month, $1,983 every two weeks or $992 a week.
How much tax do Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses pay in Dawson County, GA?
Total taxes are $13,493 a year, an effective rate of 20.7%: $5,762 federal income tax, $4,977 FICA and $2,754 Georgia income tax.
Do Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses earn more in Dawson County, GA than elsewhere in Georgia?
Yes. The local median of $65,060 is +5.2% versus the Georgia average of $61,860, a difference of $3,200 a year.
Can Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses afford a one-bedroom apartment in Dawson County, GA?
A one-bedroom costs $1,619 a month against take-home pay of $4,297, which is 37.7% of take-home pay. That meets the 30%-of-gross guideline, which allows up to $1,627 a month.
What is the monthly budget margin for Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses in Dawson County, GA?
About $2,094 a month ($25,130 a year) remains after a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline, which together cost $26,437 a year.
What hourly wage covers a one-bedroom in Dawson County, GA at the 30% guideline?
$31.13 an hour for a full-time schedule, calculated as the $19,428 annual rent divided by 0.30 and by 2,080 hours. The median for Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses is $31.28.
How we calculated these numbers
Wages are May 2025 medians from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey for the Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA 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 Georgia 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.