Middle School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education in Arizona
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$49,067
after federal, FICA and Arizona tax
Tax takes
$10,643
17.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$48,530
Arizona costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Arizona — 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
$59,710
Kept after tax
$49,067
Worth in national money
$48,530
State rank
42
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Arizona is among the lower-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $59,710, ranking 42 of 51 states — about 7.24% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
- Against other work in Arizona, this sits in the middle: 231 of 491 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $59,710 the take-home is $49,067, which is worth about $48,530 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is higher, $62,000, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Arizona ranks 42 of 51 for middle school teachers, except special and career/technical education, with a median of $59,710 — about 7.24% below the national figure. A nominal shortfall is not by itself a real one: lower-paying states frequently carry lower tax and lower price levels, and the adjusted figures below are where that is settled rather than assumed.
- Middle school teachers, except special and career/technical education ranks 231 of 491 occupations in Arizona 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.
- Arizona's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for middle school teachers, except special and career/technical education on its $59,710 median: $49,067 retained after tax becomes $48,530 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $62,000 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Middle School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $46,940 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $59,710 |
| Top tenth earn over | $81,420 |
| This salary | $59,710 |
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 Arizona | $49,067 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $50,157 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$3,085 |
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 | $58,353 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$3,731 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 101 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $59,710 as a midpoint for Arizona, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $46,940 and the ninetieth is $81,420 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In Arizona the take-home figure of $49,067, from $59,710, assumes one filer, no dependants, and nothing paid into a pension before tax. Each of those lowers the bill, so treat it as the plain case. City and school-district income taxes are not included either, and in a few states those are real money. It ranks 231 of 491 occupations here.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $48,530 uses one figure for the whole of Arizona. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 491 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 231.
- The Arizona median of $59,710 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $46,940 to $81,420. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Take-home for Arizona is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $49,067 from $59,710. Each omitted item reduces taxable income, so the figure is a lower bound on retained pay for this household shape. Municipal and school-district income taxes are excluded, which understates the burden materially in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The occupation ranks 231 of 491 locally.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $48,530, worked from $59,710, 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 Arizona address, on work sitting at 231 of 491 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 $62,000 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $46,940 at the tenth percentile, $81,420 at the ninetieth.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
The number and the value are different things. Arizona costs more than the national average, so this take-home stretches like $48,530 rather than its face figure.
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 Arizona adds its own income tax on top — which is why $49,067 of this wage survives to your account.
Can I compare this job across every state?
This occupation is published everywhere — all 51 of them — so comparing states measures real differences rather than gaps in the data.
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 Arizona is $62,000. 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 ($46,940 to $81,420) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Arizona rather than a national figure.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
Arizona's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $48,530 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 $49,067 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Arizona 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.
Is this occupation's state coverage complete?
State-level estimates are published for all 51 jurisdictions for this occupation, so cross-state comparison is not confounded by suppression. ⚠️ Estimates remain survey-based and carry sampling error; small differences between adjacent states should not be over-read.