Art, Drama, and Music Teachers, Postsecondary in Georgia
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$61,632
after federal, FICA and Georgia tax
Tax takes
$18,238
22.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$63,736
Georgia costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Georgia — 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
$79,870
Kept after tax
$61,632
Worth in national money
$63,736
State rank
11
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is strong here. Georgia's middle earner gets $79,870, putting the state 11 of 49 — about 1.59% ahead of the national figure.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in Georgia. It ranks 113 out of 492 occupations the state publishes figures for, which puts it in the top quarter locally.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $79,870 you keep $61,632 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $63,736 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $79,880, since top earners drag the number up.
- For art, drama, and music teachers, postsecondary, Georgia sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $79,870, ranking 11 of 49 and running about 1.59% above the national midpoint. Nominal advantage of this size is usually, though not always, large enough to survive the state's own tax and price levels.
- Within Georgia, art, drama, and music teachers, postsecondary ranks 113 of 492 occupations by median pay, placing it in the top quartile of the local distribution. This is the comparison a resident actually makes — against neighbors rather than against the same job elsewhere.
- Retained pay in Georgia is $61,632 after the full tax stack, from $79,870. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $63,736 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $79,880 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Art, Drama, and Music Teachers, Postsecondary
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $45,860 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $79,870 |
| Top tenth earn over | $120,790 |
| This salary | $79,870 |
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 Georgia | $61,632 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $65,019 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$3,173 |
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 | $75,056 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$4,383 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 97 |
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 art, drama, and music teachers, postsecondary in Georgia earn under $79,870 and half over. The published range runs $45,860 at the tenth percentile to $120,790 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $61,632 take-home in Georgia comes from $79,870. It is the no-frills case: single filer, standard deduction, nothing set aside before tax. Real circumstances almost always reduce the tax. City and school-district taxes are not counted at all. Locally the work ranks 113 of 492.
- Two cautions on $63,736, the adjusted value of that $79,870 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Georgia. 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 113 of 492 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for art, drama, and music teachers, postsecondary in Georgia, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $45,860 to $120,790; 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.
- Retained pay of $61,632, from $79,870, assumes a single Georgia filer with the standard deduction and no elective deferrals. Pre-tax retirement or HSA contributions, dependants and itemized deductions all reduce it further; local income taxes, excluded here, would increase it in the states that levy them. This occupation ranks 113 of 492 locally, and the state ranks 11 of 49 for it.
- This $63,736 adjusted figure, worked from $79,870, 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 113 of 492 in the state. The occupation ranks 113 of 492 locally.
Questions people ask
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $45,860, the highest tenth $120,790, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in Georgia sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $63,736 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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; Georgia then takes its own share, leaving $61,632.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 49 states here, and a missing state means too few reports, not no jobs.
What drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($45,860) and the ninetieth ($120,790) 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.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Georgia'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 $63,736 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 $61,632 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Georgia 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 49 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.