Physics Teachers, Postsecondary in New York
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$76,318
after federal, FICA and New York tax
Tax takes
$26,782
26.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$70,911
New York costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in New York — 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
$103,100
Kept after tax
$76,318
Worth in national money
$70,911
State rank
14
of 47 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- This is a good state for the work. New York pays physics teachers, postsecondary a middle wage of $103,100, ranking 14 of 47 states and sitting about 2.78% above the national middle.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in New York. It ranks 90 out of 493 occupations the state publishes figures for, which puts it in the top quarter locally.
- Costs eat into it here. Of $103,100, tax leaves $76,318 — and because New York is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $70,911 would nationally. Averages run higher here, $115,260, since top earners drag the number up.
- New York's median for physics teachers, postsecondary is $103,100, about 2.78% above the national figure and 14 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 New York, physics teachers, postsecondary ranks 90 of 493 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.
- After tax, $76,318 remains from the New York median of $103,100 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $70,911 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $115,260 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 | $61,320 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $103,100 |
| Top tenth earn over | $209,940 |
| This salary | $103,100 |
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 New York | $76,318 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $81,361 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$12,816 |
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 | $95,932 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$17,702 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 108 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in New York earn less than $103,100. The published range is $61,320 up to $209,940, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind New York's $76,318, worked from $103,100. 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 90 of 493.
- Two cautions on $70,911, the adjusted value of that $103,100 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of New York. 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 90 of 493 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for physics teachers, postsecondary in New York the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $61,320 to $209,940. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The New York take-home of $76,318, on $103,100 for work ranking 90 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 90 of 493 in the state.
- This $70,911 adjusted figure, worked from $103,100, 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 90 of 493 in the state. The occupation ranks 90 of 493 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 $115,260, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $61,320, the highest tenth $209,940, 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 $70,911 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 New York's own levy, $76,318 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 47 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 New York is $115,260. 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 ($61,320) and the ninetieth ($209,940) 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?
New York's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $70,911 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 $76,318 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and New York 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.