Biological Science Teachers, Postsecondary in Wisconsin
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$61,120
after federal, FICA and Wisconsin tax
Tax takes
$17,800
22.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$65,652
Wisconsin costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Wisconsin — 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
$78,920
Kept after tax
$61,120
Worth in national money
$65,652
State rank
39
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Wisconsin pays this job a middle wage of $78,920, 39 of 49 states and about 6.74% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 126 among 491 occupations Wisconsin publishes pay for.
- Wisconsin is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $78,920 the take-home is $61,120; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $65,652 would nationally. The average comes to $96,070, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Wisconsin's $78,920 median for biological science teachers, postsecondary places it 39 of 49 states, about 6.74% 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 126 of 491 in Wisconsin places biological science 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.
- Post-tax income for biological science teachers, postsecondary in Wisconsin, on $78,920, is $61,120 — equivalent to $65,652 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 $96,070 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 | $60,550 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $78,920 |
| Top tenth earn over | $177,920 |
| This salary | $78,920 |
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 Wisconsin | $61,120 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $64,350 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$569 |
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 | $74,328 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$786 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 93 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $78,920 as a midpoint for Wisconsin, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $60,550 and the ninetieth is $177,920 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In Wisconsin the take-home figure of $61,120, from $78,920, 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 126 of 491 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $65,652, the adjusted value of that $78,920 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Wisconsin. 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 126 of 491 locally.
- The Wisconsin median of $78,920 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $60,550 to $177,920. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Take-home for Wisconsin is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $61,120 from $78,920. 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 126 of 491 locally.
- This $65,652 adjusted figure, worked from $78,920, 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 126 of 491 in the state. The occupation ranks 126 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
No — it is the middle. Half of these workers earn more and half earn less. The average is $96,070, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $60,550 and the top tenth $177,920 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Wisconsin is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $65,652 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 Wisconsin's own levy, $61,120 remains.
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.
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 Wisconsin is $96,070. 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 ($60,550) and the ninetieth ($177,920) 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?
Wisconsin'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 $65,652 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 $61,120 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Wisconsin 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.