Engineering Teachers, Postsecondary in Pennsylvania
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$64,047
after federal, FICA and Pennsylvania tax
Tax takes
$18,023
22.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$65,689
Pennsylvania costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Pennsylvania — 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
$82,070
Kept after tax
$64,047
Worth in national money
$65,689
State rank
48
of 48 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Pennsylvania pays this job a middle wage of $82,070, 48 of 48 states and about 24.89% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in Pennsylvania. It ranks 108 out of 492 occupations the state publishes figures for, which puts it in the top quarter locally.
- No great distortion either way. Pennsylvania costs about what the country costs, so from $82,070, take-home of $64,047 is worth roughly $65,689 in national money. The average comes to $88,330, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Pennsylvania's $82,070 median for engineering teachers, postsecondary places it 48 of 48 states, about 24.89% 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.
- Within Pennsylvania, engineering teachers, postsecondary ranks 108 of 492 occupations by median pay, placing it in the top quartile of the local distribution. This is the comparison a resident actually makes — against neighbors rather than against the same job elsewhere.
- Price parity in Pennsylvania is near the national base, so for engineering teachers, postsecondary, whose median is $82,070, the adjusted figure of $65,689 differs little from $64,047 retained after tax. The state's position for this occupation is therefore set by wage and tax rather than by living costs. At $88,330 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
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Pay band: Engineering Teachers, Postsecondary
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $36,770 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $82,070 |
| Top tenth earn over | $143,560 |
| This salary | $82,070 |
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 Pennsylvania | $64,047 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $66,566 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$2,812 |
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 | $78,489 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$3,885 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 98 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $82,070 as a midpoint for Pennsylvania, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $36,770 and the ninetieth is $143,560 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Pennsylvania's $64,047, worked from $82,070. That is on purpose. It lets states be compared with each other, not with each other's family circumstances. Local city taxes are left out. Locally this work ranks 108 of 492.
- Two cautions on $65,689, the adjusted value of that $82,070 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Pennsylvania. 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 108 of 492 locally.
- The Pennsylvania median of $82,070 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $36,770 to $143,560. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- The Pennsylvania take-home of $64,047, on $82,070 for work ranking 108 of 492 locally, models the simplest household deliberately: holding it constant is what makes the interstate comparison meaningful. It also means the absolute figure overstates liability for most real filers, and municipal income taxes are outside the model entirely. The occupation ranks 108 of 492 in the state.
- This $65,689 adjusted figure, worked from $82,070, 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 108 of 492 in the state. The occupation ranks 108 of 492 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $88,330, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $36,770 and the top tenth $143,560 — 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 $65,689.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Three of them are federal and one is not. After income tax, Social Security, Medicare and Pennsylvania's own levy, $64,047 remains.
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 Pennsylvania is $88,330. 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 ($36,770) and the ninetieth ($143,560) 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?
Pennsylvania'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 $65,689 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 $64,047 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Pennsylvania 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.