Chemistry Teachers, Postsecondary in District of Columbia
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$75,733
after federal, FICA and District of Columbia tax
Tax takes
$27,637
26.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$68,348
District of Columbia costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in District of Columbia — 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
$103,370
Kept after tax
$75,733
Worth in national money
$68,348
State rank
7
of 48 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- District of Columbia is one of the better-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $103,370, which ranks 7 of 48 states with published figures. That is about 10.85% above the national middle.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 102 among 390 occupations District of Columbia publishes pay for.
- Costs eat into it here. Of $103,370, tax leaves $75,733 — and because District of Columbia is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $68,348 would nationally. Averages run higher here, $117,940, since top earners drag the number up.
- District of Columbia ranks 7 of 48 states publishing a median for chemistry teachers, postsecondary, at $103,370 — about 10.85% 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.
- Position 102 of 390 in District of Columbia places chemistry 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.
- After tax, $75,733 remains from the District of Columbia median of $103,370 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $68,348 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $117,940 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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: Chemistry Teachers, Postsecondary
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $64,710 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $103,370 |
| Top tenth earn over | $208,260 |
| This salary | $103,370 |
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 District of Columbia | $75,733 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $81,551 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$15,573 |
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 | $95,100 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$21,511 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 111 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $103,370 as a midpoint for District of Columbia, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $64,710 and the ninetieth is $208,260 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $75,733 take-home in District of Columbia comes from $103,370. 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 102 of 390.
- One number stands for prices across all of District of Columbia, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $68,348, the adjusted value of that $103,370 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 102 of 390 in the state.
- The District of Columbia median of $103,370 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $64,710 to $208,260. 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 $75,733, from $103,370, assumes a single District of Columbia 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 102 of 390 locally, and the state ranks 7 of 48 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for District of Columbia, so $68,348 — the adjusted value of that $103,370 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 102 of 390 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 $117,940 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?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $64,710 and the top tenth $208,260 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
Not on its own. Prices in District of Columbia run above the national level, so the same dollars buy less here. Adjusted for that, this pay is worth $68,348 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.
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 District of Columbia adds its own income tax on top — which is why $75,733 of this wage survives to your account.
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 48 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 District of Columbia is $117,940. 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 ($64,710) and the ninetieth ($208,260) 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?
District of Columbia's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $68,348 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 $75,733 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and District of Columbia 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 48 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.