English Language and Literature Teachers, Postsecondary in Maine
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$63,744
after federal, FICA and Maine tax
Tax takes
$20,546
24.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$65,649
Maine costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Maine — 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
$84,290
Kept after tax
$63,744
Worth in national money
$65,649
State rank
10
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Maine is one of the better-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $84,290, which ranks 10 of 49 states with published figures. That is about 7.02% above the national middle.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in Maine. It ranks 95 out of 484 occupations the state publishes figures for, which puts it in the top quarter locally.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $84,290 the take-home is $63,744, which is worth about $65,649 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is higher, $93,890, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Maine ranks 10 of 49 states publishing a median for english language and literature teachers, postsecondary, at $84,290 — about 7.02% 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.
- Within Maine, english language and literature teachers, postsecondary ranks 95 of 484 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.
- Maine's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for english language and literature teachers, postsecondary on its $84,290 median: $63,744 retained after tax becomes $65,649 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $93,890 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
Choose your filing status and local taxes, compare pay, and keep a shortlist.Compare wage and personal-pay outcomes by state, with selected resident local taxes and saved career choices.
Pay band: English Language and Literature Teachers, Postsecondary
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $60,230 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $84,290 |
| Top tenth earn over | $139,640 |
| This salary | $84,290 |
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 Maine | $63,744 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $68,128 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$4,459 |
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 | $78,058 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$6,160 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 97 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $84,290 as a midpoint for Maine, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $60,230 and the ninetieth is $139,640 — 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 Maine's $63,744, worked from $84,290. 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 95 of 484.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $65,649 uses one figure for the whole of Maine. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 484 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 95.
- The Maine median of $84,290 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $60,230 to $139,640. 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 Maine take-home of $63,744, on $84,290 for work ranking 95 of 484 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 95 of 484 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $65,649, worked from $84,290, 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 Maine address, on work sitting at 95 of 484 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 $93,890 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?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $60,230, the highest tenth $139,640, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in Maine sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $65,649 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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 Maine adds its own income tax on top — which is why $63,744 of this wage survives to your account.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 49 states here, and a missing state means too few reports, not no jobs.
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 Maine is $93,890. 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 ($60,230) and the ninetieth ($139,640) 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?
Maine'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 $65,649 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 $63,744 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Maine 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.