Education Teachers, Postsecondary in Mississippi
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$49,502
after federal, FICA and Mississippi tax
Tax takes
$12,358
20.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$56,709
Mississippi costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Mississippi — 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
$61,860
Kept after tax
$49,502
Worth in national money
$56,709
State rank
44
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Mississippi is among the lower-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $61,860, ranking 44 of 49 states — about 17.9% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 135 among 486 occupations Mississippi publishes pay for.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $61,860 you keep $49,502 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $56,709 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $65,960, since top earners drag the number up.
- Mississippi ranks 44 of 49 for education teachers, postsecondary, with a median of $61,860 — about 17.9% below the national figure. A nominal shortfall is not by itself a real one: lower-paying states frequently carry lower tax and lower price levels, and the adjusted figures below are where that is settled rather than assumed.
- Position 135 of 486 in Mississippi places education 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.
- Retained pay in Mississippi is $49,502 after the full tax stack, from $61,860. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $56,709 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $65,960 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Education Teachers, Postsecondary
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $31,440 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $61,860 |
| Top tenth earn over | $103,070 |
| This salary | $61,860 |
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 Mississippi | $49,502 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $51,885 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$3,316 |
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 | $58,895 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$4,010 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 87 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $61,860 as a midpoint for Mississippi, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $31,440 and the ninetieth is $103,070 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $49,502 take-home in Mississippi comes from $61,860. 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 135 of 486.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $56,709 uses one figure for the whole of Mississippi. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 486 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 135.
- The Mississippi median of $61,860 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $31,440 to $103,070. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Retained pay of $49,502, from $61,860, assumes a single Mississippi 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 135 of 486 locally, and the state ranks 44 of 49 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $56,709, worked from $61,860, 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 Mississippi address, on work sitting at 135 of 486 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
Half earn more than this and half earn less. The average sits at $65,960 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $31,440 and the top tenth $103,070 — 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 $56,709.
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; Mississippi then takes its own share, leaving $49,502.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 49 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 Mississippi is $65,960. 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 ($31,440) and the ninetieth ($103,070) 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?
Mississippi'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 $56,709 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 $49,502 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Mississippi 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 49 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.