Career/Technical Education Teachers, Secondary School in Indiana
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$45,855
after federal, FICA and Indiana tax
Tax takes
$10,535
18.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$49,743
Indiana costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Indiana — 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
$56,390
Kept after tax
$45,855
Worth in national money
$49,743
State rank
47
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Indiana is among the lower-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $56,390, ranking 47 of 49 states — about 14.91% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 258 among 493 occupations Indiana publishes pay for.
- Here is where Indiana does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $56,390 you keep $45,855, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $49,743 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $58,480, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Indiana ranks 47 of 49 for career/technical education teachers, secondary school, with a median of $56,390 — about 14.91% below the national figure. A nominal shortfall is not by itself a real one: lower-paying states frequently carry lower tax and lower price levels, and the adjusted figures below are where that is settled rather than assumed.
- Position 258 of 493 in Indiana places career/technical education teachers, secondary school 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 Indiana income tax, retained pay for career/technical education teachers, secondary school on $56,390 is $45,855. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $49,743 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 $58,480 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
Choose your filing status and local taxes, compare pay, and keep a shortlist.Compare wage and personal-pay outcomes by state, with selected resident local taxes and saved career choices.
Pay band: Career/Technical Education Teachers, Secondary School
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $44,020 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $56,390 |
| Top tenth earn over | $77,880 |
| This salary | $56,390 |
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 Indiana | $45,855 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $47,489 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$873 |
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 | $54,356 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,056 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 92 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $56,390 as a midpoint for Indiana, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $44,020 and the ninetieth is $77,880 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $45,855 take-home in Indiana comes from $56,390. It is the no-frills case: single filer, standard deduction, nothing set aside before tax. Real circumstances almost always reduce the tax. City and school-district taxes are not counted at all. Locally the work ranks 258 of 493.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $49,743 uses one figure for the whole of Indiana. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 493 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 258.
- The Indiana median of $56,390 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $44,020 to $77,880. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Retained pay of $45,855, from $56,390, assumes a single Indiana filer with the standard deduction and no elective deferrals. Pre-tax retirement or HSA contributions, dependants and itemized deductions all reduce it further; local income taxes, excluded here, would increase it in the states that levy them. This occupation ranks 258 of 493 locally, and the state ranks 47 of 49 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $49,743, worked from $56,390, 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 Indiana address, on work sitting at 258 of 493 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $58,480, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $44,020 at the tenth percentile, $77,880 at the ninetieth.
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 $49,743.
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 Indiana's own levy, $45,855 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
Because the survey suppresses a figure when too few employers report it. This occupation has published pay in 49 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
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 Indiana is $58,480. 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 is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($44,020 to $77,880) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Indiana rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Indiana'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 $49,743 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 $45,855 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Indiana 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.