Political Science Teachers, Postsecondary in Connecticut
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$74,578
after federal, FICA and Connecticut tax
Tax takes
$25,652
25.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$71,925
Connecticut costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Connecticut — 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
$100,230
Kept after tax
$74,578
Worth in national money
$71,925
State rank
15
of 45 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Connecticut is one of the better-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $100,230, which ranks 15 of 45 states with published figures. That is about 2.2% above the national middle.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in Connecticut. It ranks 89 out of 482 occupations the state publishes figures for, which puts it in the top quarter locally.
- The wage here flatters the reality. From $100,230 the take-home is $74,578. But Connecticut costs more than the national average, so that money behaves more like $71,925 would elsewhere. Worth knowing before comparing offers across states. The average is higher, $126,730, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Connecticut ranks 15 of 45 states publishing a median for political science teachers, postsecondary, at $100,230 — about 2.2% above the national median. A state's position on nominal pay is the figure wage tables report and the least informative of the three on this page, because it survives neither the tax adjustment nor the price adjustment intact for most occupations.
- Within Connecticut, political science teachers, postsecondary ranks 89 of 482 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.
- Retained pay after federal, FICA and Connecticut income tax is $74,578 for political science teachers, postsecondary, from $100,230. The state's price level exceeds the national average, so the price-adjusted equivalent is $71,925. ⚠️ This is purchasing power and not a wage; cross-state offer comparisons that stop at the nominal figure systematically overvalue high-cost states. The mean of $126,730 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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: Political Science Teachers, Postsecondary
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $62,570 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $100,230 |
| Top tenth earn over | $227,470 |
| This salary | $100,230 |
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 Connecticut | $74,578 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $79,342 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$9,724 |
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 | $93,458 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$13,431 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 104 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $100,230 as a midpoint for Connecticut, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $62,570 and the ninetieth is $227,470 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $74,578 take-home in Connecticut comes from $100,230. 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 89 of 482.
- Two cautions on $71,925, the adjusted value of that $100,230 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Connecticut. 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 89 of 482 locally.
- The Connecticut median of $100,230 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $62,570 to $227,470. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Retained pay of $74,578, from $100,230, assumes a single Connecticut 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 89 of 482 locally, and the state ranks 15 of 45 for it.
- This $71,925 adjusted figure, worked from $100,230, 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 89 of 482 in the state. The occupation ranks 89 of 482 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 $126,730 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $62,570, the highest tenth $227,470, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
The number and the value are different things. Connecticut costs more than the national average, so this take-home stretches like $71,925 rather than its face figure.
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; Connecticut then takes its own share, leaving $74,578.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 45 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 Connecticut is $126,730. 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 ($62,570) and the ninetieth ($227,470) 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?
Connecticut's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $71,925 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 $74,578 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Connecticut 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 45 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.