School Psychologists in Pennsylvania
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$64,127
after federal, FICA and Pennsylvania tax
Tax takes
$18,063
22.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$65,772
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
$82,190
Kept after tax
$64,127
Worth in national money
$65,772
State rank
29
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Pennsylvania pays school psychologists around $82,190 at the midpoint, 29 of 51 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in Pennsylvania. It ranks 106 out of 492 occupations the state publishes figures for, which puts it in the top quarter locally.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $82,190, tax leaves $64,127, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $65,772 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $87,220, since top earners drag the number up.
- For school psychologists the Pennsylvania median is $82,190, ranking 29 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 Pennsylvania, school psychologists ranks 106 of 492 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.
- Because Pennsylvania sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for school psychologists — median $82,190 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $64,127 retained, $65,772 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $87,220 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: School Psychologists
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $62,550 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $82,190 |
| Top tenth earn over | $118,440 |
| This salary | $82,190 |
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 | $64,127 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $66,651 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$2,817 |
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 | $78,603 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$3,891 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 98 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Pennsylvania earn less than $82,190. The published range is $62,550 up to $118,440, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $64,127 take-home in Pennsylvania comes from $82,190. 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 106 of 492.
- One number stands for prices across all of Pennsylvania, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $65,772, the adjusted value of that $82,190 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 106 of 492 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for school psychologists in Pennsylvania the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $62,550 to $118,440. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $64,127, from $82,190, assumes a single Pennsylvania 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 106 of 492 locally, and the state ranks 29 of 51 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Pennsylvania, so $65,772 — the adjusted value of that $82,190 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 106 of 492 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 $87,220 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $62,550 and the top tenth $118,440, so most people doing this work in Pennsylvania sit within a fairly tight band.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Pennsylvania is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $65,772 in national terms.
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 Pennsylvania's own levy, $64,127 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 Pennsylvania is $87,220. 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 ($62,550 to $118,440) 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 $65,772 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 $64,127 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.