Secondary School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education in Georgia
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$58,763
after federal, FICA and Georgia tax
Tax takes
$16,717
22.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$60,768
Georgia costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Georgia — 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
$75,480
Kept after tax
$58,763
Worth in national money
$60,768
State rank
21
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Georgia sits in the middle of the pack for this job. The median is $75,480, ranking 21 of 51 states with figures. Close enough to the national middle that where you live matters more than the headline suggests.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 137 among 492 occupations Georgia publishes pay for.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $75,480 you keep $58,763 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $60,768 at national prices. Here the average runs under the middle, at $72,000.
- Georgia occupies the middle band for secondary school teachers, except special and career/technical education: a median of $75,480, ranking 21 of 51. Where nominal pay is close to the national figure, the tax and price adjustments below carry proportionally more weight in determining the real outcome.
- Position 137 of 492 in Georgia places secondary school teachers, except special and career/technical education in the middle of the state's wage distribution. Because within-state and cross-state rankings measure different things, this figure and the national one above should be read together rather than as a single verdict.
- Retained pay in Georgia is $58,763 after the full tax stack, from $75,480. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $60,768 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $72,000 sits under the median, so the lower tail is the longer one.
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 | $49,450 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $75,480 |
| Top tenth earn over | $96,820 |
| This salary | $75,480 |
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 Georgia | $58,763 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $61,930 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$2,962 |
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 | $70,977 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$4,092 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 97 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Georgia earn less than $75,480. The published range is $49,450 up to $96,820, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Georgia's $58,763, worked from $75,480. 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 137 of 492.
- One number stands for prices across all of Georgia, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $60,768, the adjusted value of that $75,480 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 137 of 492 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for secondary school teachers, except special and career/technical education in Georgia the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $49,450 to $96,820. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The Georgia take-home of $58,763, on $75,480 for work ranking 137 of 492 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 137 of 492 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Georgia, so $60,768 — the adjusted value of that $75,480 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 137 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 $72,000 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 $49,450 and the top tenth $96,820, so most people doing this work in Georgia sit within a fairly tight band.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in Georgia sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $60,768 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 Georgia adds its own income tax on top — which is why $58,763 of this wage survives to your account.
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 Georgia is $72,000. 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 ($49,450 to $96,820) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Georgia rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Georgia'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 $60,768 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 $58,763 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Georgia 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.