Preschool Teachers, Except Special Education in Maine
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$35,803
after federal, FICA and Maine tax
Tax takes
$8,087
18.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$36,874
Maine costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Maine — 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
$43,890
Kept after tax
$35,803
Worth in national money
$36,874
State rank
19
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Maine pays this job around $43,890 at the midpoint, 19 of 51 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Against 484 occupations Maine publishes, this job lands at 412. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- No great distortion either way. Maine costs about what the country costs, so from $43,890, take-home of $35,803 is worth roughly $36,874 in national money. The average comes to $45,350, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For preschool teachers, except special education the Maine median is $43,890, ranking 19 of 51 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 Maine, this work ranks 412 of 484 occupations by median pay, in the bottom quartile. The within-state position is the more salient one for anyone weighing this job against alternatives available to them locally.
- Price parity in Maine is near the national base, so for preschool teachers, except special education, whose median is $43,890, the adjusted figure of $36,874 differs little from $35,803 retained after tax. The state's position for this occupation is therefore set by wage and tax rather than by living costs. At $45,350 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Preschool Teachers, Except Special Education
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $36,170 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $43,890 |
| Top tenth earn over | $60,110 |
| This salary | $43,890 |
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 Maine | $35,803 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $37,446 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$1,661 |
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 | $41,846 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$2,008 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 97 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $43,890 as a midpoint for Maine, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $36,170 and the ninetieth is $60,110 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Maine's $35,803, worked from $43,890. 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 412 of 484.
- One number stands for prices across all of Maine, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $36,874, the adjusted value of that $43,890 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 412 of 484 in the state.
- The Maine median of $43,890 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $36,170 to $60,110. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- The Maine take-home of $35,803, on $43,890 for work ranking 412 of 484 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 412 of 484 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Maine, so $36,874 — the adjusted value of that $43,890 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 412 of 484 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 $45,350 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $36,170 at the tenth percentile, $60,110 at the ninetieth.
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 $36,874.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Three of them are federal and one is not. After income tax, Social Security, Medicare and Maine's own levy, $35,803 remains.
Can I compare this job across every state?
Yes for this one. Pay is published in all 51 jurisdictions, so a state-to-state comparison here rests on the same survey everywhere rather than on a patchwork.
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 Maine is $45,350. 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 is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($36,170 to $60,110) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Maine rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Maine'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 $36,874 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 $35,803 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Maine 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.
Is this occupation's state coverage complete?
State-level estimates are published for all 51 jurisdictions for this occupation, so cross-state comparison is not confounded by suppression. ⚠️ Estimates remain survey-based and carry sampling error; small differences between adjacent states should not be over-read.