Political Science Teachers, Postsecondary in New York
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$76,930
after federal, FICA and New York tax
Tax takes
$27,120
26.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$71,479
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
$104,050
Kept after tax
$76,930
Worth in national money
$71,479
State rank
8
of 45 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is strong here. New York's middle earner gets $104,050, putting the state 8 of 45 — about 6.1% ahead of the national figure.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in New York. It ranks 85 out of 493 occupations the state publishes figures for, which puts it in the top quarter locally.
- New York is an expensive state, and the adjusted figure shows it. From $104,050 the take-home is $76,930; in national-average money that behaves like $71,479. The average comes to $123,780, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For political science teachers, postsecondary, New York sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $104,050, ranking 8 of 45 and running about 6.1% above the national midpoint. Nominal advantage of this size is usually, though not always, large enough to survive the state's own tax and price levels.
- Within New York, political science teachers, postsecondary ranks 85 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.
- Take-home for political science teachers, postsecondary in New York, on $104,050, is $76,930; deflated by the state's price level, $71,479. ⚠️ The deflator is statewide, so it understates the erosion in the state's metropolitan areas and overstates it outside them. At $123,780 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Political Science Teachers, Postsecondary
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $64,100 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $104,050 |
| Top tenth earn over | $211,420 |
| This salary | $104,050 |
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 | $76,930 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $82,029 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$12,934 |
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 | $96,802 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$17,866 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 108 |
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 political science teachers, postsecondary in New York earn under $104,050 and half over. The published range runs $64,100 at the tenth percentile to $211,420 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind New York's $76,930, worked from $104,050. 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 85 of 493.
- Two cautions on $71,479, the adjusted value of that $104,050 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 85 of 493 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for political science teachers, postsecondary in New York, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $64,100 to $211,420; 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.
- The New York take-home of $76,930, on $104,050 for work ranking 85 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 85 of 493 in the state.
- This $71,479 adjusted figure, worked from $104,050, 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 85 of 493 in the state. The occupation ranks 85 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 $123,780, 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 $64,100, the highest tenth $211,420, 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 $71,479 of national purchasing power.
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 New York adds its own income tax on top — which is why $76,930 of this wage survives to your account.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 45 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 $123,780. 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 ($64,100) and the ninetieth ($211,420) 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 $71,479 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 $76,930 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 45 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.