Engineering Teachers, Postsecondary in Virginia
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$88,324
after federal, FICA and Virginia tax
Tax takes
$33,557
27.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$87,667
Virginia costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Virginia — 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
$121,880
Kept after tax
$88,324
Worth in national money
$87,667
State rank
11
of 48 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Virginia is one of the better-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $121,880, which ranks 11 of 48 states with published figures. That is about 11.54% above the national middle.
- Within Virginia this is well-paid work. Of 489 occupations with published figures in the state, this job ranks 42 — in the top quarter of everything people do there.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $121,880 the take-home is $88,324, which is worth about $87,667 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is higher, $131,310, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Virginia ranks 11 of 48 states publishing a median for engineering teachers, postsecondary, at $121,880 — about 11.54% above the national median. A state's position on nominal pay is the figure wage tables report and the least informative of the three on this page, because it survives neither the tax adjustment nor the price adjustment intact for most occupations.
- Ranked against every occupation Virginia publishes a median for, engineering teachers, postsecondary sits 42 of 489 — 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.
- Virginia's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for engineering teachers, postsecondary on its $121,880 median: $88,324 retained after tax becomes $87,667 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $131,310 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Engineering Teachers, Postsecondary
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $62,910 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $121,880 |
| Top tenth earn over | $224,190 |
| This salary | $121,880 |
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 Virginia | $88,324 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $94,571 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$9,653 |
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 | $112,997 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$13,337 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 101 |
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 engineering teachers, postsecondary in Virginia earn under $121,880 and half over. The published range runs $62,910 at the tenth percentile to $224,190 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $88,324 take-home in Virginia comes from $121,880. 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 42 of 489.
- Two cautions on $87,667, the adjusted value of that $121,880 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Virginia. 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 42 of 489 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for engineering teachers, postsecondary in Virginia, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $62,910 to $224,190; 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.
- Retained pay of $88,324, from $121,880, assumes a single Virginia 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 42 of 489 locally, and the state ranks 11 of 48 for it.
- This $87,667 adjusted figure, worked from $121,880, 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 42 of 489 in the state. The occupation ranks 42 of 489 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $131,310, 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 $62,910 and the top tenth $224,190 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
A larger wage in a dearer place is not automatically more. Adjusted for local prices, this pay behaves like $87,667 of national purchasing power.
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 Virginia's own levy, $88,324 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 Virginia is $131,310. 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 ($62,910) and the ninetieth ($224,190) 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.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
Virginia's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $87,667 in national-average terms. ⚠️ RPPs are an all-items index; housing parities vary far more widely than the headline figure.
What accounts for the gap between gross wage and take-home here?
Take-home of $88,324 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Virginia 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.