Physics Teachers, Postsecondary in Maine
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$76,371
after federal, FICA and Maine tax
Tax takes
$27,899
26.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$78,654
Maine costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Maine — 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
$104,270
Kept after tax
$76,371
Worth in national money
$78,654
State rank
13
of 47 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. Maine pays physics teachers, postsecondary a middle wage of $104,270, ranking 13 of 47 states and sitting about 3.95% above the national middle.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in Maine. It ranks 43 out of 484 occupations the state publishes figures for, which puts it in the top quarter locally.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $104,270, tax leaves $76,371, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $78,654 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $112,110, since top earners drag the number up.
- Maine's median for physics teachers, postsecondary is $104,270, about 3.95% above the national figure and 13 of 47 states reporting. Whether that premium reaches the worker depends on the two adjustments below, which is the part a wage table cannot tell you.
- Within Maine, physics teachers, postsecondary ranks 43 of 484 occupations by median pay, placing it in the top quartile of the local distribution. This is the comparison a resident actually makes — against neighbors rather than against the same job elsewhere.
- Because Maine sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for physics teachers, postsecondary — median $104,270 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $76,371 retained, $78,654 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $112,110 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Physics Teachers, Postsecondary
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $67,750 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $104,270 |
| Top tenth earn over | $180,530 |
| This salary | $104,270 |
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 Maine | $76,371 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $82,184 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$5,919 |
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 | $96,007 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$8,176 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 97 |
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 physics teachers, postsecondary in Maine earn under $104,270 and half over. The published range runs $67,750 at the tenth percentile to $180,530 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $76,371 take-home in Maine comes from $104,270. 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 43 of 484.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $78,654 uses one figure for the whole of Maine. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 484 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 43.
- Figures are distribution medians for physics teachers, postsecondary in Maine, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $67,750 to $180,530; 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 $76,371, from $104,270, assumes a single Maine 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 43 of 484 locally, and the state ranks 13 of 47 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $78,654, worked from $104,270, 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 Maine address, on work sitting at 43 of 484 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $112,110, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $67,750, the highest tenth $180,530, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
A smaller wage in a cheaper place is not automatically less. Adjusted for local prices, this is worth $78,654.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Four deductions, stacked. The federal layer and the two payroll taxes apply wherever you work; Maine then takes its own share, leaving $76,371.
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 Maine is $112,110. 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 ($67,750) and the ninetieth ($180,530) 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.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Maine's regional price parity is at or below the national average, so nominal wages understate purchasing power. Take-home deflated by the state price level is $78,654 in national-average terms. The adjustment uses an all-items index and does not isolate housing.
What accounts for the gap between gross wage and take-home here?
Take-home of $76,371 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Maine 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 47 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.