Education Administrators, Postsecondary in North Dakota
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$79,584
after federal, FICA and North Dakota tax
Tax takes
$22,016
21.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$89,852
North Dakota costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in North Dakota — 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
$101,600
Kept after tax
$79,584
Worth in national money
$89,852
State rank
32
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. North Dakota is 32 of 51 states for this job, with a middle wage of $101,600. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- Within North Dakota this is well-paid work. Of 460 occupations with published figures in the state, this job ranks 48 — in the top quarter of everything people do there.
- North Dakota is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $101,600 the take-home is $79,584; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $89,852 would nationally. The average comes to $127,230, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- North Dakota ranks 32 of 51 for education administrators, postsecondary at $101,600. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- Ranked against every occupation North Dakota publishes a median for, education administrators, postsecondary sits 48 of 460 — 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.
- Post-tax income for education administrators, postsecondary in North Dakota, on $101,600, is $79,584 — equivalent to $89,852 once regional price parity is applied. ⚠️ The adjustment uses a statewide index that describes no particular address; within-state price variation, concentrated in housing, routinely exceeds the difference between two states. At $127,230 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Education Administrators, Postsecondary
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $64,420 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $101,600 |
| Top tenth earn over | $233,160 |
| This salary | $101,600 |
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 North Dakota | $79,584 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $80,306 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$7,212 |
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 | $100,574 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$9,962 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 89 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $101,600 as a midpoint for North Dakota, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $64,420 and the ninetieth is $233,160 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In North Dakota the take-home figure of $79,584, from $101,600, 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 48 of 460 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $89,852, the adjusted value of that $101,600 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of North Dakota. 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 48 of 460 locally.
- The North Dakota median of $101,600 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $64,420 to $233,160. 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 North Dakota is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $79,584 from $101,600. 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 48 of 460 locally.
- This $89,852 adjusted figure, worked from $101,600, 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 48 of 460 in the state. The occupation ranks 48 of 460 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 $127,230, 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?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $64,420 and the top tenth $233,160 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
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 $89,852.
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 North Dakota adds its own income tax on top — which is why $79,584 of this wage survives to your account.
Can I compare this job across every state?
This occupation is published everywhere — all 51 of them — so comparing states measures real differences rather than gaps in the data.
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 North Dakota is $127,230. 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 ($64,420) and the ninetieth ($233,160) 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.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
North Dakota'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 $89,852 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 $79,584 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and North Dakota 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.
Is this occupation's state coverage complete?
State-level estimates are published for all 51 jurisdictions for this occupation, so cross-state comparison is not confounded by suppression. ⚠️ Estimates remain survey-based and carry sampling error; small differences between adjacent states should not be over-read.