Career/Technical Education Teachers, Secondary School in Maine
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$59,790
after federal, FICA and Maine tax
Tax takes
$18,260
23.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$61,577
Maine costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Maine — 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
$78,050
Kept after tax
$59,790
Worth in national money
$61,577
State rank
15
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Maine is one of the better-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $78,050, which ranks 15 of 49 states with published figures. That is about 17.78% above the national middle.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 484 occupations Maine reports figures for, this is number 131.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $78,050 the take-home is $59,790, which is worth about $61,577 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is lower, $73,670, so pay clusters nearer the top than usual.
- Maine ranks 15 of 49 states publishing a median for career/technical education teachers, secondary school, at $78,050 — about 17.78% above the national median. A state's position on nominal pay is the figure wage tables report and the least informative of the three on this page, because it survives neither the tax adjustment nor the price adjustment intact for most occupations.
- In Maine's occupational distribution, career/technical education teachers, secondary school sits at 131 of 484 — 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.
- Maine's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for career/technical education teachers, secondary school on its $78,050 median: $59,790 retained after tax becomes $61,577 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $73,670 falls below the median, a left skew that is uncommon in 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 | $51,290 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $78,050 |
| Top tenth earn over | $88,330 |
| This salary | $78,050 |
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 Maine | $59,790 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $63,738 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$4,014 |
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 | $72,438 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$5,544 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 97 |
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, secondary school in Maine earn under $78,050 and half over. The published range runs $51,290 at the tenth percentile to $88,330 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $59,790 take-home in Maine comes from $78,050. 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 131 of 484.
- One number stands for prices across all of Maine, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $61,577, the adjusted value of that $78,050 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 131 of 484 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for career/technical education teachers, secondary school in Maine, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $51,290 to $88,330; 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.
- Retained pay of $59,790, from $78,050, assumes a single Maine 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 131 of 484 locally, and the state ranks 15 of 49 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Maine, so $61,577 — the adjusted value of that $78,050 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 131 of 484 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $73,670, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $51,290 and the top tenth $88,330, so most people doing this work in Maine sit within a fairly tight band.
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 $61,577.
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 Maine adds its own income tax on top — which is why $59,790 of this wage survives to your account.
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 Maine is $73,670. 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 ($51,290 to $88,330) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Maine rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Maine'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 $61,577 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 $59,790 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Maine 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.