Political Science Teachers, Postsecondary in Virginia
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$75,114
after federal, FICA and Virginia tax
Tax takes
$26,316
25.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$74,556
Virginia costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Virginia — 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
$101,430
Kept after tax
$75,114
Worth in national money
$74,556
State rank
10
of 45 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is strong here. Virginia's middle earner gets $101,430, putting the state 10 of 45 — about 3.43% ahead of the national figure.
- Within Virginia this is well-paid work. Of 489 occupations with published figures in the state, this job ranks 78 — in the top quarter of everything people do there.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $101,430 the take-home is $75,114, which is worth about $74,556 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is higher, $113,530, because the best-paid pull it up.
- For political science teachers, postsecondary, Virginia sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $101,430, ranking 10 of 45 and running about 3.43% 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.
- Ranked against every occupation Virginia publishes a median for, political science teachers, postsecondary sits 78 of 489 — the upper quartile of the state's wage distribution. National standing and within-state standing are separate questions, and a job can occupy very different positions on each.
- Virginia's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for political science teachers, postsecondary on its $101,430 median: $75,114 retained after tax becomes $74,556 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $113,530 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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 | $59,600 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $101,430 |
| Top tenth earn over | $176,660 |
| This salary | $101,430 |
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 Virginia | $75,114 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $80,186 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$7,961 |
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 | $94,221 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$10,997 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 101 |
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 Virginia earn under $101,430 and half over. The published range runs $59,600 at the tenth percentile to $176,660 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- In Virginia the take-home figure of $75,114, from $101,430, 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 78 of 489 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $74,556, the adjusted value of that $101,430 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Virginia. 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 78 of 489 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for political science teachers, postsecondary in Virginia, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $59,600 to $176,660; 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.
- Take-home for Virginia is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $75,114 from $101,430. 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 78 of 489 locally.
- This $74,556 adjusted figure, worked from $101,430, 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 78 of 489 in the state. The occupation ranks 78 of 489 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 $113,530, 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?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $59,600 and the top tenth $176,660 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
The number and the value are different things. Virginia costs more than the national average, so this take-home stretches like $74,556 rather than its face figure.
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 Virginia adds its own income tax on top — which is why $75,114 of this wage survives to your account.
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 Virginia is $113,530. 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 ($59,600) and the ninetieth ($176,660) 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?
Virginia's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $74,556 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 $75,114 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Virginia 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.