Biological Science Teachers, Postsecondary in Mississippi
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$53,264
after federal, FICA and Mississippi tax
Tax takes
$13,566
20.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$61,018
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
$66,830
Kept after tax
$53,264
Worth in national money
$61,018
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 $66,830, 47 of 49 states and about 21.02% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in Mississippi. It ranks 119 out of 486 occupations the state publishes figures for, which puts it in the top quarter locally.
- Mississippi is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $66,830 the take-home is $53,264; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $61,018 would nationally. The average comes to $77,750, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Mississippi's $66,830 median for biological science teachers, postsecondary places it 47 of 49 states, about 21.02% 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.
- Within Mississippi, biological science teachers, postsecondary ranks 119 of 486 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.
- Post-tax income for biological science teachers, postsecondary in Mississippi, on $66,830, is $53,264 — equivalent to $61,018 once regional price parity is applied. ⚠️ The adjustment uses a statewide index that describes no particular address; within-state price variation, concentrated in housing, routinely exceeds the difference between two states. At $77,750 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
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Pay band: Biological Science Teachers, Postsecondary
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $46,250 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $66,830 |
| Top tenth earn over | $129,060 |
| This salary | $66,830 |
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 | $53,264 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $55,845 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$3,549 |
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 | $63,576 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$4,903 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 87 |
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 biological science teachers, postsecondary in Mississippi earn under $66,830 and half over. The published range runs $46,250 at the tenth percentile to $129,060 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In Mississippi the take-home figure of $53,264, from $66,830, 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 119 of 486 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $61,018, the adjusted value of that $66,830 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Mississippi. 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 119 of 486 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for biological science teachers, postsecondary in Mississippi, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $46,250 to $129,060; 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 Mississippi is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $53,264 from $66,830. 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 119 of 486 locally.
- This $61,018 adjusted figure, worked from $66,830, 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 119 of 486 in the state. The occupation ranks 119 of 486 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 $77,750 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?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $46,250, the highest tenth $129,060, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
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 $61,018.
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 Mississippi's own levy, $53,264 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.
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 Mississippi is $77,750. 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 ($46,250) and the ninetieth ($129,060) 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?
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 $61,018 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 $53,264 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.