Career/Technical Education Teachers, Postsecondary in Wisconsin
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$63,503
after federal, FICA and Wisconsin tax
Tax takes
$19,117
23.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$68,212
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
$82,620
Kept after tax
$63,503
Worth in national money
$68,212
State rank
1
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is strong here. Wisconsin's middle earner gets $82,620, putting the state 1 of 51 — about 29.46% ahead of the national figure.
- Locally, this pays well. Among 491 occupations Wisconsin reports, this job comes in at 105 — comfortably in the upper quarter.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $82,620 you keep $63,503 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $68,212 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $88,930, since top earners drag the number up.
- For career/technical education teachers, postsecondary, Wisconsin sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $82,620, ranking 1 of 51 and running about 29.46% above the national midpoint. Nominal advantage of this size is usually, though not always, large enough to survive the state's own tax and price levels.
- Career/technical education teachers, postsecondary ranks 105 of 491 occupations by median in Wisconsin, in the top quartile. Within-state position is largely independent of national position, so this holds regardless of how the state compares to others for the same work.
- Retained pay in Wisconsin is $63,503 after the full tax stack, from $82,620. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $68,212 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $88,930 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Career/Technical Education Teachers, Postsecondary
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $49,470 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $82,620 |
| Top tenth earn over | $123,850 |
| This salary | $82,620 |
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 | $63,503 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $66,953 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$688 |
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 | $77,716 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$950 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 93 |
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 career/technical education teachers, postsecondary in Wisconsin earn under $82,620 and half over. The published range runs $49,470 at the tenth percentile to $123,850 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In Wisconsin the take-home figure of $63,503, from $82,620, 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 105 of 491 occupations here.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $68,212 uses one figure for the whole of Wisconsin. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 491 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 105.
- Figures are distribution medians for career/technical education teachers, postsecondary in Wisconsin, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $49,470 to $123,850; 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 Wisconsin is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $63,503 from $82,620. 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 105 of 491 locally.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $68,212, worked from $82,620, deflates by a statewide parity that conceals substantial intra-state variation, concentrated in housing — so it supports comparison between states rather than the pricing of a move to a particular Wisconsin address, on work sitting at 105 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $88,930, 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 $49,470 at the bottom tenth to $123,850 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. Wisconsin is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $68,212 in national terms.
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 Wisconsin adds its own income tax on top — which is why $63,503 of this wage survives to your account.
Can I compare this job across every state?
This occupation is published everywhere — all 51 of them — so comparing states measures real differences rather than gaps in the data.
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 $88,930. 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 ($49,470) and the ninetieth ($123,850) 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 $68,212 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 $63,503 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.
Is this occupation's state coverage complete?
State-level estimates are published for all 51 jurisdictions for this occupation, so cross-state comparison is not confounded by suppression. ⚠️ Estimates remain survey-based and carry sampling error; small differences between adjacent states should not be over-read.