Foreign Language and Literature Teachers, Postsecondary in New York
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$71,175
after federal, FICA and New York tax
Tax takes
$23,945
25.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$66,132
New York costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in New York — 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
$95,120
Kept after tax
$71,175
Worth in national money
$66,132
State rank
6
of 45 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- New York is one of the better-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $95,120, which ranks 6 of 45 states with published figures. That is about 19.87% above the national middle.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 493 occupations New York reports figures for, this is number 135.
- New York is an expensive state, and the adjusted figure shows it. From $95,120 the take-home is $71,175; in national-average money that behaves like $66,132. The average comes to $109,490, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- New York ranks 6 of 45 states publishing a median for foreign language and literature teachers, postsecondary, at $95,120 — about 19.87% 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.
- In New York's occupational distribution, foreign language and literature teachers, postsecondary sits at 135 of 493 — neither quartile. This local position is what a resident compares against, and it is determined by the state's own labor market rather than by national patterns for this occupation.
- Take-home for foreign language and literature teachers, postsecondary in New York, on $95,120, is $71,175; deflated by the state's price level, $66,132. ⚠️ The deflator is statewide, so it understates the erosion in the state's metropolitan areas and overstates it outside them. At $109,490 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Foreign Language and Literature Teachers, Postsecondary
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $59,290 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $95,120 |
| Top tenth earn over | $208,840 |
| This salary | $95,120 |
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 New York | $71,175 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $75,747 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$11,817 |
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 | $88,621 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$16,323 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 108 |
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 foreign language and literature teachers, postsecondary in New York earn under $95,120 and half over. The published range runs $59,290 at the tenth percentile to $208,840 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $71,175 take-home in New York comes from $95,120. 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 493.
- One number stands for prices across all of New York, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $66,132, the adjusted value of that $95,120 median, as a way to compare states fairly, not as a quote for any particular place. The two datasets are also from different years. This job sits at 135 of 493 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for foreign language and literature teachers, postsecondary in New York, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $59,290 to $208,840; 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 $71,175, from $95,120, assumes a single New York 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 493 locally, and the state ranks 6 of 45 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for New York, so $66,132 — the adjusted value of that $95,120 median — establishes comparability between states rather than accuracy within one. The wage and parity series are dated independently, each following its own publication cycle, and neither is projected forward. This occupation sits at 135 of 493 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 $109,490 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?
The label is broader than the work. From $59,290 at the bottom tenth to $208,840 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
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 $66,132 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 New York's own levy, $71,175 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 45 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 New York is $109,490. 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 ($59,290) and the ninetieth ($208,840) 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?
New York's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $66,132 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 $71,175 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and New York 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 45 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.