Chemistry Teachers, Postsecondary in Indiana
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$63,811
after federal, FICA and Indiana tax
Tax takes
$17,719
21.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$69,221
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
$81,530
Kept after tax
$63,811
Worth in national money
$69,221
State rank
35
of 48 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Indiana pays this job a middle wage of $81,530, 35 of 48 states and about 12.57% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Within Indiana this is well-paid work. Of 493 occupations with published figures in the state, this job ranks 99 — in the top quarter of everything people do there.
- Here is where Indiana does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $81,530 you keep $63,811, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $69,221 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $95,440, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Indiana's $81,530 median for chemistry teachers, postsecondary places it 35 of 48 states, about 12.57% below national. Because both the tax and price adjustments tend to favor lower-nominal states, this ranking is the least stable of the three reported here.
- Ranked against every occupation Indiana publishes a median for, chemistry teachers, postsecondary sits 99 of 493 — the upper quartile of the state's wage distribution. National standing and within-state standing are separate questions, and a job can occupy very different positions on each.
- After federal, FICA and Indiana income tax, retained pay for chemistry teachers, postsecondary on $81,530 is $63,811. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $69,221 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 $95,440 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Chemistry Teachers, Postsecondary
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $57,800 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $81,530 |
| Top tenth earn over | $160,680 |
| This salary | $81,530 |
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 | $63,811 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $66,186 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,111 |
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 | $78,153 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,534 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 92 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Indiana earn less than $81,530. The published range is $57,800 up to $160,680, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $63,811 take-home in Indiana comes from $81,530. 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 99 of 493.
- Two cautions on $69,221, the adjusted value of that $81,530 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Indiana. No actual address matches that. The wage figures and price figures are also from different years. Each is published on its own timetable. This work sits at 99 of 493 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for chemistry teachers, postsecondary in Indiana the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $57,800 to $160,680. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $63,811, from $81,530, 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 99 of 493 locally, and the state ranks 35 of 48 for it.
- This $69,221 adjusted figure, worked from $81,530, rests on a state-level price parity averaging over within-state dispersion larger than much of the between-state dispersion. Wage and price vintages differ by publication schedule. The result is directionally sound and not address-specific, for work at 99 of 493 in the state. The occupation ranks 99 of 493 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
No — it is the middle. Half of these workers earn more and half earn less. The average is $95,440, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
The label is broader than the work. From $57,800 at the bottom tenth to $160,680 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
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 $69,221.
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, $63,811 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 48 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release one.
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 $95,440. 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 ($57,800) and the ninetieth ($160,680) 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?
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 $69,221 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 $63,811 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 48 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.