Communications Teachers, Postsecondary in Maine
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$59,758
after federal, FICA and Maine tax
Tax takes
$18,242
23.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$61,545
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
$78,000
Kept after tax
$59,758
Worth in national money
$61,545
State rank
20
of 48 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. Maine is 20 of 48 states for this job, with a middle wage of $78,000. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 132 among 484 occupations Maine publishes pay for.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $78,000 the take-home is $59,758, which is worth about $61,545 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is higher, $86,670, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Maine ranks 20 of 48 for communications teachers, postsecondary at $78,000. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- Position 132 of 484 in Maine places communications 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.
- Maine's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for communications teachers, postsecondary on its $78,000 median: $59,758 retained after tax becomes $61,545 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $86,670 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Communications Teachers, Postsecondary
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $58,300 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $78,000 |
| Top tenth earn over | $111,440 |
| This salary | $78,000 |
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 | $59,758 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $63,703 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$4,010 |
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 | $72,392 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$5,539 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 97 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $78,000 as a midpoint for Maine, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $58,300 and the ninetieth is $111,440 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In Maine the take-home figure of $59,758, from $78,000, assumes one filer, no dependants, and nothing paid into a pension before tax. Each of those lowers the bill, so treat it as the plain case. City and school-district income taxes are not included either, and in a few states those are real money. It ranks 132 of 484 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $61,545, the adjusted value of that $78,000 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Maine. 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 132 of 484 locally.
- The Maine median of $78,000 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $58,300 to $111,440. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Take-home for Maine is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $59,758 from $78,000. Each omitted item reduces taxable income, so the figure is a lower bound on retained pay for this household shape. Municipal and school-district income taxes are excluded, which understates the burden materially in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The occupation ranks 132 of 484 locally.
- This $61,545 adjusted figure, worked from $78,000, 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 132 of 484 in the state. The occupation ranks 132 of 484 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 $86,670, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $58,300 at the bottom tenth to $111,440 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
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 $61,545.
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; Maine then takes its own share, leaving $59,758.
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 Maine is $86,670. 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 ($58,300 to $111,440) 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 $61,545 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 $59,758 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 48 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.