Secondary School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education in Virginia
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$56,212
after federal, FICA and Virginia tax
Tax takes
$15,958
22.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$55,795
Virginia costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Virginia — 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
$72,170
Kept after tax
$56,212
Worth in national money
$55,795
State rank
24
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Virginia sits in the middle of the pack for this job. The median is $72,170, ranking 24 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 172 among 489 occupations Virginia publishes pay for.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $72,170, tax leaves $56,212, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $55,795 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $75,060, since top earners drag the number up.
- Virginia occupies the middle band for secondary school teachers, except special and career/technical education: a median of $72,170, ranking 24 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 172 of 489 in Virginia 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.
- Because Virginia sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for secondary school teachers, except special and career/technical education — median $72,170 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $56,212 retained, $55,795 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $75,060 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 | $49,900 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $72,170 |
| Top tenth earn over | $107,930 |
| This salary | $72,170 |
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 Virginia | $56,212 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $59,602 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$5,540 |
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 | $67,352 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$7,405 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 101 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Virginia earn less than $72,170. The published range is $49,900 up to $107,930, 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 Virginia's $56,212, worked from $72,170. 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 172 of 489.
- One number stands for prices across all of Virginia, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $55,795, the adjusted value of that $72,170 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 172 of 489 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for secondary school teachers, except special and career/technical education in Virginia the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $49,900 to $107,930. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The Virginia take-home of $56,212, on $72,170 for work ranking 172 of 489 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 172 of 489 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Virginia, so $55,795 — the adjusted value of that $72,170 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 172 of 489 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $75,060, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $49,900 and the top tenth $107,930 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
The number and the value are different things. Virginia costs more than the national average, so this take-home stretches like $55,795 rather than its face figure.
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 Virginia's own levy, $56,212 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 Virginia is $75,060. 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 drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($49,900) and the ninetieth ($107,930) exceeds the family median dispersion. SOC codes aggregate roles differing in seniority, industry and specialisation, and BLS does not disaggregate below the detailed occupation level, so within-title variance is not separable from the published series.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
Virginia's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $55,795 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 $56,212 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Virginia 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.