Secondary School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education in Texas
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$53,275
after federal, FICA and Texas tax
Tax takes
$10,315
16.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$54,823
Texas costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Texas — 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
$63,590
Kept after tax
$53,275
Worth in national money
$54,823
State rank
28
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. Texas is 28 of 51 states for this job, with a middle wage of $63,590. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 493 occupations Texas reports figures for, this is number 181.
- No great distortion either way. Texas costs about what the country costs, so from $63,590, take-home of $53,275 is worth roughly $54,823 in national money. The average comes to $65,740, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Texas ranks 28 of 51 for secondary school teachers, except special and career/technical education at $63,590. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- In Texas's occupational distribution, secondary school teachers, except special and career/technical education sits at 181 of 493 — neither quartile. This local position is what a resident compares against, and it is determined by the state's own labor market rather than by national patterns for this occupation.
- Price parity in Texas is near the national base, so for secondary school teachers, except special and career/technical education, whose median is $63,590, the adjusted figure of $54,823 differs little from $53,275 retained after tax. The state's position for this occupation is therefore set by wage and tax rather than by living costs. At $65,740 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
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 | $50,410 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $63,590 |
| Top tenth earn over | $78,020 |
| This salary | $63,590 |
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 Texas | $53,275 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Florida | $53,275 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$3,326 |
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 | $63,590 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$4,478 |
| Prices in Florida | 103 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 Texas earn less than $63,590. The published range is $50,410 up to $78,020, 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 Texas's $53,275, worked from $63,590. 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 181 of 493.
- Two cautions on $54,823, the adjusted value of that $63,590 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Texas. 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 181 of 493 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for secondary school teachers, except special and career/technical education in Texas the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $50,410 to $78,020. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The Texas take-home of $53,275, on $63,590 for work ranking 181 of 493 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 181 of 493 in the state.
- This $54,823 adjusted figure, worked from $63,590, 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 181 of 493 in the state. The occupation ranks 181 of 493 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 $65,740, 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?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $50,410 at the tenth percentile, $78,020 at the ninetieth.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Texas is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $54,823 in national terms.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Less than people assume. $53,275 of this wage reaches your account, because Texas takes no income tax from wages — but federal tax, Social Security and Medicare still apply exactly as they do everywhere else.
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 Texas is $65,740. 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 ($50,410 to $78,020) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Texas rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Texas'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 $54,823 in national-average terms. The adjustment uses an all-items index and does not isolate housing.
Why is the take-home ratio comparatively high in this state?
Texas levies no personal income tax on wages, so take-home of $53,275 reflects the federal layer and FICA alone. Federal income tax and FICA are unchanged; states without a wage income tax generally recover revenue through consumption and property bases instead.
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.