Kindergarten Teachers, Except Special Education in Virginia

Books, colored pencils and a globe in a bright classroom.

May 2025 wages · tax year 2026

You keep

$50,625

after federal, FICA and Virginia tax

Tax takes

$13,295

20.8% of the whole

Worth, in national money

$50,249

Virginia costs more than average

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

$63,920

Kept after tax

$50,625

Worth in national money

$50,249

State rank

19

of 50 states

What this pays, and what it is worth

  • Middling, nationally. Virginia pays this job around $63,920 at the midpoint, 19 of 50 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
  • Against other work in Virginia, this sits in the middle: 208 of 489 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
  • Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $63,920, tax leaves $50,625, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $50,249 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $69,880, since top earners drag the number up.
  • For kindergarten teachers, except special education the Virginia median is $63,920, ranking 19 of 50 states reporting. Mid-band nominal positions are the ones most frequently reordered by the adjustments, because no large wage premium exists to absorb a state's tax or price level.
  • Kindergarten teachers, except special education ranks 208 of 489 occupations in Virginia by median pay, in the middle bands. Within-state and national positions are separate measurements and a job commonly sits in different quartiles on each.
  • Because Virginia sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for kindergarten teachers, except special education — median $63,920 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $50,625 retained, $50,249 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $69,880 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

50thpercentile, roughly
Lowest tenth earn under$48,850
Half earn under$63,920
Top tenth earn over$100,930
This salary$63,920

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

Compare with
+$2,915take-home per year in Texas
Take-home in Virginia$50,625
Take-home in Texas$53,540
Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity+$4,848

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

Moving to
$0now · $63,920$58,057
$58,057in Texas, for the same life
To match take-home only$60,292
You could take a cut of−$5,863
Prices in Texas97 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 kindergarten teachers, except special education in Virginia earn under $63,920 and half over. The published range runs $48,850 at the tenth percentile to $100,930 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 Virginia's $50,625, worked from $63,920. 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 208 of 489.
  • The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $50,249 uses one figure for the whole of Virginia. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 489 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 208.
  • Figures are distribution medians for kindergarten teachers, except special education in Virginia, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $48,850 to $100,930; 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 Virginia take-home of $50,625, on $63,920 for work ranking 208 of 489 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 208 of 489 in the state.
  • Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $50,249, worked from $63,920, 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 Virginia address, on work sitting at 208 of 489 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 $69,880 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 $48,850, the highest tenth $100,930, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.

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 $50,249 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, $50,625 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 Virginia is $69,880. 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 ($48,850) and the ninetieth ($100,930) 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 $50,249 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 $50,625 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 50 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.