Secondary School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education in California
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$74,808
after federal, FICA and California tax
Tax takes
$26,562
26.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$66,449
California costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in California — 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
$101,370
Kept after tax
$74,808
Worth in national money
$66,449
State rank
2
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is strong here. California's middle earner gets $101,370, putting the state 2 of 51 — about 40.71% ahead of the national figure.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in California. It ranks 121 out of 492 occupations the state publishes figures for, which puts it in the top quarter locally.
- Costs eat into it here. Of $101,370, tax leaves $74,808 — and because California is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $66,449 would nationally. Averages run higher here, $105,880, since top earners drag the number up.
- For secondary school teachers, except special and career/technical education, California sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $101,370, ranking 2 of 51 and running about 40.71% 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.
- Within California, secondary school teachers, except special and career/technical education ranks 121 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.
- After tax, $74,808 remains from the California median of $101,370 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $66,449 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $105,880 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Secondary School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $64,600 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $101,370 |
| Top tenth earn over | $132,600 |
| This salary | $101,370 |
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 California | $74,808 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $80,144 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$16,025 |
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 | $93,786 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$22,136 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 113 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $101,370 as a midpoint for California, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $64,600 and the ninetieth is $132,600 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $74,808 take-home in California comes from $101,370. 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 121 of 492.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $66,449 uses one figure for the whole of California. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 492 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 121.
- The California median of $101,370 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $64,600 to $132,600. 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 $74,808, from $101,370, assumes a single California 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 121 of 492 locally, and the state ranks 2 of 51 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $66,449, worked from $101,370, deflates by a statewide parity that conceals substantial intra-state variation, concentrated in housing — so it supports comparison between states rather than the pricing of a move to a particular California address, on work sitting at 121 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 $105,880, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $64,600 at the bottom tenth to $132,600 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
Not on its own. Prices in California run above the national level, so the same dollars buy less here. Adjusted for that, this pay is worth $66,449 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.
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 California adds its own income tax on top — which is why $74,808 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 California is $105,880. 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 ($64,600 to $132,600) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to California rather than a national figure.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
California's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $66,449 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 $74,808 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and California 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.