Communications Teachers, Postsecondary in District of Columbia
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$63,697
after federal, FICA and District of Columbia tax
Tax takes
$20,213
24.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$57,486
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
$83,910
Kept after tax
$63,697
Worth in national money
$57,486
State rank
9
of 48 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is strong here. District of Columbia's middle earner gets $83,910, putting the state 9 of 48 — about 6.78% ahead of the national figure.
- Against other work in District of Columbia, this sits in the middle: 170 of 390 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- District of Columbia is an expensive state, and the adjusted figure shows it. From $83,910 the take-home is $63,697; in national-average money that behaves like $57,486. The average comes to $97,920, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For communications teachers, postsecondary, District of Columbia sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $83,910, ranking 9 of 48 and running about 6.78% above the national midpoint. Nominal advantage of this size is usually, though not always, large enough to survive the state's own tax and price levels.
- Communications teachers, postsecondary ranks 170 of 390 occupations in District of Columbia by median pay, in the middle bands. Within-state and national positions are separate measurements and a job commonly sits in different quartiles on each.
- Take-home for communications teachers, postsecondary in District of Columbia, on $83,910, is $63,697; deflated by the state's price level, $57,486. ⚠️ The deflator is statewide, so it understates the erosion in the state's metropolitan areas and overstates it outside them. At $97,920 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Communications Teachers, Postsecondary
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $53,150 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $83,910 |
| Top tenth earn over | $137,160 |
| This salary | $83,910 |
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 | $63,697 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $67,861 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$12,347 |
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 | $77,991 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$17,056 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 111 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in District of Columbia earn less than $83,910. The published range is $53,150 up to $137,160, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $63,697 take-home in District of Columbia comes from $83,910. 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 170 of 390.
- Two cautions on $57,486, the adjusted value of that $83,910 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of District of Columbia. 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 170 of 390 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for communications teachers, postsecondary in District of Columbia the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $53,150 to $137,160. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $63,697, from $83,910, 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 170 of 390 locally, and the state ranks 9 of 48 for it.
- This $57,486 adjusted figure, worked from $83,910, 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 170 of 390 in the state. The occupation ranks 170 of 390 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $97,920, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $53,150, the highest tenth $137,160, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
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 $57,486 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Four deductions, stacked. The federal layer and the two payroll taxes apply wherever you work; District of Columbia then takes its own share, leaving $63,697.
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 $97,920. 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 ($53,150) and the ninetieth ($137,160) 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 $57,486 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 $63,697 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.