Art, Drama, and Music Teachers, Postsecondary in Mississippi
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$48,525
after federal, FICA and Mississippi tax
Tax takes
$12,055
19.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$55,589
Mississippi costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Mississippi — 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
$60,580
Kept after tax
$48,525
Worth in national money
$55,589
State rank
47
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Mississippi pays this job a middle wage of $60,580, 47 of 49 states and about 22.95% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 150 among 486 occupations Mississippi publishes pay for.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $60,580 you keep $48,525 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $55,589 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $61,940, since top earners drag the number up.
- Mississippi's $60,580 median for art, drama, and music teachers, postsecondary places it 47 of 49 states, about 22.95% below national. Because both the tax and price adjustments tend to favor lower-nominal states, this ranking is the least stable of the three reported here.
- Position 150 of 486 in Mississippi places art, drama, and music teachers, postsecondary 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 in Mississippi is $48,525 after the full tax stack, from $60,580. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $55,589 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $61,940 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Art, Drama, and Music Teachers, Postsecondary
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $40,350 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $60,580 |
| Top tenth earn over | $79,820 |
| This salary | $60,580 |
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 Mississippi | $48,525 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $50,856 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$3,255 |
The raise and the real gain point in opposite directions here.
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 | $57,679 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$3,936 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 87 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Mississippi earn less than $60,580. The published range is $40,350 up to $79,820, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Mississippi's $48,525, worked from $60,580. That is on purpose. It lets states be compared with each other, not with each other's family circumstances. Local city taxes are left out. Locally this work ranks 150 of 486.
- One number stands for prices across all of Mississippi, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $55,589, the adjusted value of that $60,580 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 150 of 486 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for art, drama, and music teachers, postsecondary in Mississippi the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $40,350 to $79,820. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The Mississippi take-home of $48,525, on $60,580 for work ranking 150 of 486 locally, models the simplest household deliberately: holding it constant is what makes the interstate comparison meaningful. It also means the absolute figure overstates liability for most real filers, and municipal income taxes are outside the model entirely. The occupation ranks 150 of 486 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Mississippi, so $55,589 — the adjusted value of that $60,580 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 150 of 486 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $40,350 and the top tenth $79,820, so most people doing this work in Mississippi sit within a fairly tight band.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
A smaller wage in a cheaper place is not automatically less. Adjusted for local prices, this is worth $55,589.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Into four separate taxes, not one. Federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare apply everywhere, and Mississippi adds its own income tax on top — which is why $48,525 of this wage survives to your account.
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 is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($40,350 to $79,820) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Mississippi rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Mississippi'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 $55,589 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 $48,525 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Mississippi 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.