Physics Teachers, Postsecondary in Texas
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$77,604
after federal, FICA and Texas tax
Tax takes
$20,156
20.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$79,860
Texas costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Texas — 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
$97,760
Kept after tax
$77,604
Worth in national money
$79,860
State rank
28
of 47 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Texas sits in the middle of the pack for physics teachers, postsecondary. The median is $97,760, ranking 28 of 47 states with figures. Close enough to the national middle that where you live matters more than the headline suggests.
- Locally, this pays well. Among 493 occupations Texas reports, physics teachers, postsecondary comes in at 76 — comfortably in the upper quarter.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $97,760 the take-home is $77,604, which is worth about $79,860 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is higher, $104,240, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Texas occupies the middle band for physics teachers, postsecondary: a median of $97,760, ranking 28 of 47. Where nominal pay is close to the national figure, the tax and price adjustments below carry proportionally more weight in determining the real outcome.
- Physics teachers, postsecondary ranks 76 of 493 occupations by median in Texas, in the top quartile. Within-state position is largely independent of national position, so this holds regardless of how the state compares to others for the same work.
- Texas's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for physics teachers, postsecondary on its $97,760 median: $77,604 retained after tax becomes $79,860 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $104,240 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Physics Teachers, Postsecondary
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $60,590 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $97,760 |
| Top tenth earn over | $167,090 |
| This salary | $97,760 |
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 Texas | $77,604 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Florida | $77,604 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$4,846 |
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 | $97,760 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$7,126 |
| Prices in Florida | 103 vs 97 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Texas earn less than $97,760. The published range is $60,590 up to $167,090, 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 Texas's $77,604, worked from $97,760. 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 76 of 493.
- One number stands for prices across all of Texas, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $79,860, the adjusted value of that $97,760 median, as a way to compare states fairly, not as a quote for any particular place. The two datasets are also from different years. This job sits at 76 of 493 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for physics teachers, postsecondary in Texas the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $60,590 to $167,090. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The Texas take-home of $77,604, on $97,760 for work ranking 76 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 76 of 493 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Texas, so $79,860 — the adjusted value of that $97,760 median — establishes comparability between states rather than accuracy within one. The wage and parity series are dated independently, each following its own publication cycle, and neither is projected forward. This occupation sits at 76 of 493 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $104,240, 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 $60,590, the highest tenth $167,090, 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 $79,860.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Less than people assume. $77,604 of this wage reaches your account, because Texas takes no income tax from wages — but federal tax, Social Security and Medicare still apply exactly as they do everywhere else.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 47 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release one.
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 Texas is $104,240. 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 ($60,590) and the ninetieth ($167,090) 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?
Texas'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 $79,860 in national-average terms. The adjustment uses an all-items index and does not isolate housing.
Why is the take-home ratio comparatively high in this state?
Texas levies no personal income tax on wages, so take-home of $77,604 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.