Preschool Teachers, Except Special Education in Pennsylvania
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$30,039
after federal, FICA and Pennsylvania tax
Tax takes
$6,011
16.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$30,810
Pennsylvania costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Pennsylvania — 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
$36,050
Kept after tax
$30,039
Worth in national money
$30,810
State rank
36
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Pennsylvania pays this job a middle wage of $36,050, 36 of 51 states and about 5.48% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Within Pennsylvania this is lower-paid work. Of 492 occupations the state publishes figures for, this job ranks 451. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- No great distortion either way. Pennsylvania costs about what the country costs, so from $36,050, take-home of $30,039 is worth roughly $30,810 in national money. The average comes to $37,250, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Pennsylvania's $36,050 median for preschool teachers, except special education places it 36 of 51 states, about 5.48% 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 Pennsylvania reports, preschool teachers, except special education ranks 451 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.
- Price parity in Pennsylvania is near the national base, so for preschool teachers, except special education, whose median is $36,050, the adjusted figure of $30,810 differs little from $30,039 retained after tax. The state's position for this occupation is therefore set by wage and tax rather than by living costs. At $37,250 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
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Pay band: Preschool Teachers, Except Special Education
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $29,590 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $36,050 |
| Top tenth earn over | $46,460 |
| This salary | $36,050 |
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 Pennsylvania | $30,039 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $31,146 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$1,242 |
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 | $34,673 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$1,502 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 98 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $36,050 as a midpoint for Pennsylvania, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $29,590 and the ninetieth is $46,460 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- In Pennsylvania the take-home figure of $30,039, from $36,050, 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 451 of 492 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $30,810, the adjusted value of that $36,050 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Pennsylvania. 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 451 of 492 locally.
- The Pennsylvania median of $36,050 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $29,590 to $46,460. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Take-home for Pennsylvania is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $30,039 from $36,050. 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 451 of 492 locally.
- This $30,810 adjusted figure, worked from $36,050, 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 451 of 492 in the state. The occupation ranks 451 of 492 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 $37,250, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $29,590 and the top tenth $46,460, so most people doing this work in Pennsylvania sit within a fairly tight band.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in Pennsylvania sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $30,810 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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 Pennsylvania adds its own income tax on top — which is why $30,039 of this wage survives to your account.
Can I compare this job across every state?
This occupation is published everywhere — all 51 of them — so comparing states measures real differences rather than gaps in the data.
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 Pennsylvania is $37,250. 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 ($29,590 to $46,460) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Pennsylvania rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Pennsylvania'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 $30,810 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 $30,039 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Pennsylvania 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.