Education Administrators, Postsecondary in Utah
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$75,007
after federal, FICA and Utah tax
Tax takes
$25,413
25.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$78,953
Utah costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Utah — 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
$100,420
Kept after tax
$75,007
Worth in national money
$78,953
State rank
36
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Utah pays this job a middle wage of $100,420, 36 of 51 states and about 3.99% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Within Utah this is well-paid work. Of 487 occupations with published figures in the state, this job ranks 59 — in the top quarter of everything people do there.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $100,420 you keep $75,007 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $78,953 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $118,270, since top earners drag the number up.
- Utah's $100,420 median for education administrators, postsecondary places it 36 of 51 states, about 3.99% 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 Utah publishes a median for, education administrators, postsecondary sits 59 of 487 — 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.
- Retained pay in Utah is $75,007 after the full tax stack, from $100,420. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $78,953 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $118,270 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Education Administrators, Postsecondary
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $50,670 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $100,420 |
| Top tenth earn over | $218,010 |
| This salary | $100,420 |
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 Utah | $75,007 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $79,475 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$2,833 |
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 | $94,068 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$3,913 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 95 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- A median is the middle, not an offer. Half of education administrators, postsecondary in Utah earn under $100,420 and half over. The published range runs $50,670 at the tenth percentile to $218,010 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In Utah the take-home figure of $75,007, from $100,420, 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 59 of 487 occupations here.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $78,953 uses one figure for the whole of Utah. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 487 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 59.
- Figures are distribution medians for education administrators, postsecondary in Utah, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $50,670 to $218,010; within-state dispersion of that width routinely exceeds the dispersion between states, so tenure, employer and metropolitan area predict an individual's pay better than geography does.
- Take-home for Utah is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $75,007 from $100,420. 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 59 of 487 locally.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $78,953, worked from $100,420, deflates by a statewide parity that conceals substantial intra-state variation, concentrated in housing — so it supports comparison between states rather than the pricing of a move to a particular Utah address, on work sitting at 59 of 487 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 $118,270, 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 $50,670 and the top tenth $218,010 — 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 $78,953.
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 Utah adds its own income tax on top — which is why $75,007 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 Utah is $118,270. 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 ($50,670) and the ninetieth ($218,010) 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?
Utah'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 $78,953 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 $75,007 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Utah 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.