Adult Basic Education, Adult Secondary Education, and English as a Second Language Instructors in District of Columbia
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$50,108
after federal, FICA and District of Columbia tax
Tax takes
$12,832
20.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$45,222
District of Columbia costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in District of Columbia — 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
$62,940
Kept after tax
$50,108
Worth in national money
$45,222
State rank
15
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- District of Columbia is one of the better-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $62,940, which ranks 15 of 50 states with published figures. That is about 2.27% above the national middle.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 259 among 390 occupations District of Columbia publishes pay for.
- The wage here flatters the reality. From $62,940 the take-home is $50,108. But District of Columbia costs more than the national average, so that money behaves more like $45,222 would elsewhere. Worth knowing before comparing offers across states. The average is higher, $72,130, because the best-paid pull it up.
- District of Columbia ranks 15 of 50 states publishing a median for adult basic education, adult secondary education, and english as a second language instructors, at $62,940 — about 2.27% above the national median. A state's position on nominal pay is the figure wage tables report and the least informative of the three on this page, because it survives neither the tax adjustment nor the price adjustment intact for most occupations.
- Position 259 of 390 in District of Columbia places adult basic education, adult secondary education, and english as a second language instructors in the middle of the state's wage distribution. Because within-state and cross-state rankings measure different things, this figure and the national one above should be read together rather than as a single verdict.
- Retained pay after federal, FICA and District of Columbia income tax is $50,108 for adult basic education, adult secondary education, and english as a second language instructors, from $62,940. The state's price level exceeds the national average, so the price-adjusted equivalent is $45,222. ⚠️ This is purchasing power and not a wage; cross-state offer comparisons that stop at the nominal figure systematically overvalue high-cost states. The mean of $72,130 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Adult Basic Education, Adult Secondary Education, and English as a Second Language Instructors
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $48,670 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $62,940 |
| Top tenth earn over | $102,810 |
| This salary | $62,940 |
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 District of Columbia | $50,108 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $52,752 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$9,064 |
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 | $59,649 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$10,962 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 111 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- A median is the middle, not an offer. Half of adult basic education, adult secondary education, and english as a second language instructors in District of Columbia earn under $62,940 and half over. The published range runs $48,670 at the tenth percentile to $102,810 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In District of Columbia the take-home figure of $50,108, from $62,940, 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 259 of 390 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $45,222, the adjusted value of that $62,940 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of District of Columbia. 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 259 of 390 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for adult basic education, adult secondary education, and english as a second language instructors in District of Columbia, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $48,670 to $102,810; within-state dispersion of that width routinely exceeds the dispersion between states, so tenure, employer and metropolitan area predict an individual's pay better than geography does.
- Take-home for District of Columbia is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $50,108 from $62,940. 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 259 of 390 locally.
- This $45,222 adjusted figure, worked from $62,940, 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 259 of 390 in the state. The occupation ranks 259 of 390 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
Half earn more than this and half earn less. The average sits at $72,130 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $48,670 and the top tenth $102,810 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
The number and the value are different things. District of Columbia costs more than the national average, so this take-home stretches like $45,222 rather than its face figure.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Four deductions, stacked. The federal layer and the two payroll taxes apply wherever you work; District of Columbia then takes its own share, leaving $50,108.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 50 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release one.
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 District of Columbia is $72,130. 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 drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($48,670) and the ninetieth ($102,810) exceeds the family median dispersion. SOC codes aggregate roles differing in seniority, industry and specialisation, and BLS does not disaggregate below the detailed occupation level, so within-title variance is not separable from the published series.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
District of Columbia's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $45,222 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 $50,108 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and District of Columbia 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.
Why does this occupation lack published estimates in every state?
BLS suppresses estimates failing disclosure or reliability criteria. This occupation has published state-level estimates in 50 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.