Preschool Teachers, Except Special Education in Oklahoma
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$26,793
after federal, FICA and Oklahoma tax
Tax takes
$4,997
15.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$30,348
Oklahoma costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Oklahoma — 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
$31,790
Kept after tax
$26,793
Worth in national money
$30,348
State rank
48
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Oklahoma pays this job a middle wage of $31,790, 48 of 51 states and about 16.65% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Within Oklahoma this is lower-paid work. Of 492 occupations the state publishes figures for, this job ranks 447. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Oklahoma is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $31,790 the take-home is $26,793; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $30,348 would nationally. The average comes to $37,310, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Oklahoma's $31,790 median for preschool teachers, except special education places it 48 of 51 states, about 16.65% below national. Because both the tax and price adjustments tend to favor lower-nominal states, this ranking is the least stable of the three reported here.
- Against every occupation Oklahoma reports, preschool teachers, except special education ranks 447 of 492, in the lowest quartile of the state's distribution. That position is set by the local labor market and is independent of how the state compares nationally for this work.
- Post-tax income for preschool teachers, except special education in Oklahoma, on $31,790, is $26,793 — equivalent to $30,348 once regional price parity is applied. ⚠️ The adjustment uses a statewide index that describes no particular address; within-state price variation, concentrated in housing, routinely exceeds the difference between two states. At $37,310 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 | $23,100 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $31,790 |
| Top tenth earn over | $58,130 |
| This salary | $31,790 |
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 Oklahoma | $26,793 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $27,723 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,819 |
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 | $30,632 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,200 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 88 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $31,790 as a midpoint for Oklahoma, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $23,100 and the ninetieth is $58,130 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $26,793 take-home in Oklahoma comes from $31,790. 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 447 of 492.
- Two cautions on $30,348, the adjusted value of that $31,790 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Oklahoma. 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 447 of 492 locally.
- The Oklahoma median of $31,790 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $23,100 to $58,130. 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 $26,793, from $31,790, assumes a single Oklahoma 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 447 of 492 locally, and the state ranks 48 of 51 for it.
- This $30,348 adjusted figure, worked from $31,790, 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 447 of 492 in the state. The occupation ranks 447 of 492 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $37,310, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $23,100 and the top tenth $58,130 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Oklahoma is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $30,348 in national terms.
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; Oklahoma then takes its own share, leaving $26,793.
Can I compare this job across every state?
All 51 jurisdictions report this work, which makes the ranking a like-for-like 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 Oklahoma is $37,310. 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 ($23,100) and the ninetieth ($58,130) 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?
Oklahoma'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 $30,348 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 $26,793 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Oklahoma 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.