Physics Teachers, Postsecondary in Florida
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$60,924
after federal, FICA and Florida tax
Tax takes
$13,126
17.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$58,891
Florida costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Florida — 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
$74,050
Kept after tax
$60,924
Worth in national money
$58,891
State rank
44
of 47 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Florida is among the lower-paying states for physics teachers, postsecondary. The middle earner takes $74,050, ranking 44 of 47 states — about 26.18% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. Physics teachers, postsecondary ranks 134 among 493 occupations Florida publishes pay for.
- Costs eat into it here. Of $74,050, tax leaves $60,924 — and because Florida is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $58,891 would nationally. Averages run higher here, $83,530, since top earners drag the number up.
- Florida ranks 44 of 47 for physics teachers, postsecondary, with a median of $74,050 — about 26.18% 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.
- Position 134 of 493 in Florida places physics teachers, postsecondary 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, $60,924 remains from the Florida median of $74,050 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $58,891 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $83,530 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Physics Teachers, Postsecondary
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $55,370 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $74,050 |
| Top tenth earn over | $104,870 |
| This salary | $74,050 |
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 Florida | $60,924 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $60,924 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$3,804 |
The raise and the real gain point in opposite directions here.
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 | $74,050 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$5,255 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 103 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $74,050 as a midpoint for Florida, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $55,370 and the ninetieth is $104,870 — 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 Florida's $60,924, worked from $74,050. 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 134 of 493.
- Two cautions on $58,891, the adjusted value of that $74,050 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Florida. 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 134 of 493 locally.
- The Florida median of $74,050 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $55,370 to $104,870. 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 Florida take-home of $60,924, on $74,050 for work ranking 134 of 493 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 134 of 493 in the state.
- This $58,891 adjusted figure, worked from $74,050, 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 134 of 493 in the state. The occupation ranks 134 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 $83,530 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $55,370 at the bottom tenth to $104,870 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
Not on its own. Prices in Florida run above the national level, so the same dollars buy less here. Adjusted for that, this pay is worth $58,891 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
No. $60,924 survives, because Florida levies no wage income tax. The federal share does not change with the state you work in.
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 47 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 Florida is $83,530. 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 ($55,370 to $104,870) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Florida rather than a national figure.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
Florida's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $58,891 in national-average terms. ⚠️ RPPs are an all-items index; housing parities vary far more widely than the headline figure.
Why is the take-home ratio comparatively high in this state?
Florida levies no personal income tax on wages, so take-home of $60,924 reflects the federal layer and FICA alone. Federal income tax and FICA are unchanged; states without a wage income tax generally recover revenue through consumption and property bases instead.
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 47 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.