Art, Drama, and Music Teachers, Postsecondary in Maine
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$60,941
after federal, FICA and Maine tax
Tax takes
$18,919
23.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$62,763
Maine costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Maine — 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
$79,860
Kept after tax
$60,941
Worth in national money
$62,763
State rank
12
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. Maine pays this job a middle wage of $79,860, ranking 12 of 49 states and sitting about 1.58% above the national middle.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 484 occupations Maine reports figures for, this is number 122.
- No great distortion either way. Maine costs about what the country costs, so from $79,860, take-home of $60,941 is worth roughly $62,763 in national money. The average comes to $105,660, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Maine's median for art, drama, and music teachers, postsecondary is $79,860, about 1.58% above the national figure and 12 of 49 states reporting. Whether that premium reaches the worker depends on the two adjustments below, which is the part a wage table cannot tell you.
- In Maine's occupational distribution, art, drama, and music teachers, postsecondary sits at 122 of 484 — neither quartile. This local position is what a resident compares against, and it is determined by the state's own labor market rather than by national patterns for this occupation.
- Price parity in Maine is near the national base, so for art, drama, and music teachers, postsecondary, whose median is $79,860, the adjusted figure of $62,763 differs little from $60,941 retained after tax. The state's position for this occupation is therefore set by wage and tax rather than by living costs. At $105,660 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
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Pay band: Art, Drama, and Music Teachers, Postsecondary
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $52,570 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $79,860 |
| Top tenth earn over | $166,410 |
| This salary | $79,860 |
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 Maine | $60,941 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $65,012 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$4,138 |
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 | $74,074 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$5,716 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 97 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $79,860 as a midpoint for Maine, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $52,570 and the ninetieth is $166,410 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $60,941 take-home in Maine comes from $79,860. 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 122 of 484.
- One number stands for prices across all of Maine, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $62,763, the adjusted value of that $79,860 median, as a way to compare states fairly, not as a quote for any particular place. The two datasets are also from different years. This job sits at 122 of 484 in the state.
- The Maine median of $79,860 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $52,570 to $166,410. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Retained pay of $60,941, from $79,860, assumes a single Maine 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 122 of 484 locally, and the state ranks 12 of 49 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Maine, so $62,763 — the adjusted value of that $79,860 median — establishes comparability between states rather than accuracy within one. The wage and parity series are dated independently, each following its own publication cycle, and neither is projected forward. This occupation sits at 122 of 484 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $105,660, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
The label is broader than the work. From $52,570 at the bottom tenth to $166,410 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Maine is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $62,763 in national terms.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Three of them are federal and one is not. After income tax, Social Security, Medicare and Maine's own levy, $60,941 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
Because the survey suppresses a figure when too few employers report it. This occupation has published pay in 49 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
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 Maine is $105,660. 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 ($52,570) and the ninetieth ($166,410) 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?
Maine'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 $62,763 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 $60,941 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Maine 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.