Art, Drama, and Music Teachers, Postsecondary in North Carolina
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$58,312
after federal, FICA and North Carolina tax
Tax takes
$15,488
21.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$61,943
North Carolina costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in North Carolina — 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
$73,800
Kept after tax
$58,312
Worth in national money
$61,943
State rank
30
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. North Carolina pays this job around $73,800 at the midpoint, 30 of 49 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 137 among 489 occupations North Carolina publishes pay for.
- Here is where North Carolina does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $73,800 you keep $58,312, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $61,943 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $74,820, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For art, drama, and music teachers, postsecondary the North Carolina median is $73,800, ranking 30 of 49 states reporting. Mid-band nominal positions are the ones most frequently reordered by the adjustments, because no large wage premium exists to absorb a state's tax or price level.
- Position 137 of 489 in North Carolina 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.
- After federal, FICA and North Carolina income tax, retained pay for art, drama, and music teachers, postsecondary on $73,800 is $58,312. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $61,943 in national-average terms. ⚠️ That figure is purchasing power, not a wage, and nobody is paid it; it is what the take-home buys. The mean of $74,820 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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 | $45,460 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $73,800 |
| Top tenth earn over | $104,620 |
| This salary | $73,800 |
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 North Carolina | $58,312 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $60,748 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$571 |
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 | $70,337 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$789 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 94 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in North Carolina earn less than $73,800. The published range is $45,460 up to $104,620, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- In North Carolina the take-home figure of $58,312, from $73,800, 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 137 of 489 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $61,943, the adjusted value of that $73,800 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of North Carolina. 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 137 of 489 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for art, drama, and music teachers, postsecondary in North Carolina the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $45,460 to $104,620. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Take-home for North Carolina is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $58,312 from $73,800. 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 137 of 489 locally.
- This $61,943 adjusted figure, worked from $73,800, 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 137 of 489 in the state. The occupation ranks 137 of 489 locally.
Questions people ask
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $45,460 and the top tenth $104,620 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in North Carolina sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $61,943 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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 North Carolina's own levy, $58,312 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 49 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release one.
What drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($45,460) and the ninetieth ($104,620) 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?
North Carolina'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 $61,943 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 $58,312 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and North Carolina 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.