Physics Teachers, Postsecondary in North Dakota
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$79,652
after federal, FICA and North Dakota tax
Tax takes
$22,048
21.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$89,929
North Dakota costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in North Dakota — 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
$101,700
Kept after tax
$79,652
Worth in national money
$89,929
State rank
16
of 47 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. North Dakota pays physics teachers, postsecondary around $101,700 at the midpoint, 16 of 47 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in North Dakota. It ranks 47 out of 460 occupations the state publishes figures for, which puts it in the top quarter locally.
- North Dakota is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $101,700 the take-home is $79,652; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $89,929 would nationally. The average lands at $96,420, below the middle of the range.
- For physics teachers, postsecondary the North Dakota median is $101,700, ranking 16 of 47 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.
- Within North Dakota, physics teachers, postsecondary ranks 47 of 460 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.
- Post-tax income for physics teachers, postsecondary in North Dakota, on $101,700, is $79,652 — equivalent to $89,929 once regional price parity is applied. ⚠️ The adjustment uses a statewide index that describes no particular address; within-state price variation, concentrated in housing, routinely exceeds the difference between two states. At $96,420 the mean undershoots the median, an inversion of the usual skew.
Compare this career across states
Choose your filing status and local taxes, compare pay, and keep a shortlist.Compare wage and personal-pay outcomes by state, with selected resident local taxes and saved career choices.
Pay band: Physics Teachers, Postsecondary
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $62,200 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $101,700 |
| Top tenth earn over | $139,990 |
| This salary | $101,700 |
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 North Dakota | $79,652 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $80,376 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$7,217 |
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 | $100,671 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$9,968 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 89 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in North Dakota earn less than $101,700. The published range is $62,200 up to $139,990, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- In North Dakota the take-home figure of $79,652, from $101,700, 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 47 of 460 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $89,929, the adjusted value of that $101,700 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of North Dakota. 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 47 of 460 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for physics teachers, postsecondary in North Dakota the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $62,200 to $139,990. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Take-home for North Dakota is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $79,652 from $101,700. 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 47 of 460 locally.
- This $89,929 adjusted figure, worked from $101,700, 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 47 of 460 in the state. The occupation ranks 47 of 460 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $96,420, 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 $62,200, the highest tenth $139,990, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. North Dakota is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $89,929 in national terms.
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 North Dakota adds its own income tax on top — which is why $79,652 of this wage survives to your account.
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 North Dakota is $96,420. 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 ($62,200) and the ninetieth ($139,990) 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?
North Dakota'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 $89,929 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 $79,652 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and North Dakota 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.