Kindergarten Teachers, Except Special Education in Hawaii
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$42,297
after federal, FICA and Hawaii tax
Tax takes
$10,863
20.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$38,944
Hawaii costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Hawaii — 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
$53,160
Kept after tax
$42,297
Worth in national money
$38,944
State rank
41
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is on the low side in Hawaii. The middle earner gets $53,160. That is 41 of 50 states, and about 15.19% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 290 among 437 occupations Hawaii publishes pay for.
- Costs eat into it here. Of $53,160, tax leaves $42,297 — and because Hawaii is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $38,944 would nationally. Averages run higher here, $58,230, since top earners drag the number up.
- For kindergarten teachers, except special education, Hawaii sits in the lower band at $53,160, ranking 41 of 50 and trailing the national median by about 15.19%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Position 290 of 437 in Hawaii places kindergarten teachers, except special education 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.
- After tax, $42,297 remains from the Hawaii median of $53,160 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $38,944 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $58,230 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Kindergarten Teachers, Except Special Education
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $47,740 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $53,160 |
| Top tenth earn over | $75,340 |
| This salary | $53,160 |
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 Hawaii | $42,297 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $44,894 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$7,255 |
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 | $49,928 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$8,774 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 109 |
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 kindergarten teachers, except special education in Hawaii earn under $53,160 and half over. The published range runs $47,740 at the tenth percentile to $75,340 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Hawaii's $42,297, worked from $53,160. 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 290 of 437.
- Two cautions on $38,944, the adjusted value of that $53,160 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Hawaii. 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 290 of 437 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for kindergarten teachers, except special education in Hawaii, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $47,740 to $75,340; 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.
- The Hawaii take-home of $42,297, on $53,160 for work ranking 290 of 437 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 290 of 437 in the state.
- This $38,944 adjusted figure, worked from $53,160, 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 290 of 437 in the state. The occupation ranks 290 of 437 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
No — it is the middle. Half of these workers earn more and half earn less. The average is $58,230, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $47,740 at the bottom tenth to $75,340 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
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 $38,944 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 Hawaii's own levy, $42,297 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 50 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 Hawaii is $58,230. 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 is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($47,740 to $75,340) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Hawaii rather than a national figure.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
Hawaii's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $38,944 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 $42,297 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Hawaii 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 50 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.