Career/Technical Education Teachers, Secondary School in California
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$62,141
after federal, FICA and California tax
Tax takes
$18,479
22.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$55,196
California costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in California — 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
$80,620
Kept after tax
$62,141
Worth in national money
$55,196
State rank
6
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. California pays this job a middle wage of $80,620, ranking 6 of 49 states and sitting about 21.65% above the national middle.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 492 occupations California reports figures for, this is number 188.
- Costs eat into it here. Of $80,620, tax leaves $62,141 — and because California is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $55,196 would nationally. Averages run higher here, $89,160, since top earners drag the number up.
- California's median for career/technical education teachers, secondary school is $80,620, about 21.65% above the national figure and 6 of 49 states reporting. Whether that premium reaches the worker depends on the two adjustments below, which is the part a wage table cannot tell you.
- In California's occupational distribution, career/technical education teachers, secondary school sits at 188 of 492 — neither quartile. This local position is what a resident compares against, and it is determined by the state's own labor market rather than by national patterns for this occupation.
- After tax, $62,141 remains from the California median of $80,620 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $55,196 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $89,160 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, Secondary School
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $60,590 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $80,620 |
| Top tenth earn over | $126,170 |
| This salary | $80,620 |
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 California | $62,141 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $65,546 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$12,255 |
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 | $75,779 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$16,579 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 113 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $80,620 as a midpoint for California, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $60,590 and the ninetieth is $126,170 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In California the take-home figure of $62,141, from $80,620, 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 188 of 492 occupations here.
- One number stands for prices across all of California, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $55,196, the adjusted value of that $80,620 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 188 of 492 in the state.
- The California median of $80,620 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $60,590 to $126,170. 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 California is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $62,141 from $80,620. 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 188 of 492 locally.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for California, so $55,196 — the adjusted value of that $80,620 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 188 of 492 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 $89,160 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 $60,590, the highest tenth $126,170, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
A larger wage in a dearer place is not automatically more. Adjusted for local prices, this pay behaves like $55,196 of national purchasing power.
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 California's own levy, $62,141 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 California is $89,160. 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 ($60,590) and the ninetieth ($126,170) 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.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
California's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $55,196 in national-average terms. ⚠️ RPPs are an all-items index; housing parities vary far more widely than the headline figure.
What accounts for the gap between gross wage and take-home here?
Take-home of $62,141 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and California 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.