Sociology Teachers, Postsecondary in District of Columbia
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$75,603
after federal, FICA and District of Columbia tax
Tax takes
$27,557
26.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$68,231
District of Columbia costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in District of Columbia — 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
$103,160
Kept after tax
$75,603
Worth in national money
$68,231
State rank
4
of 46 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- District of Columbia is one of the better-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $103,160, which ranks 4 of 46 states with published figures. That is about 22.39% above the national middle.
- Against other work in District of Columbia, this sits in the middle: 106 of 390 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- District of Columbia is an expensive state, and the adjusted figure shows it. From $103,160 the take-home is $75,603; in national-average money that behaves like $68,231. The average comes to $120,640, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- District of Columbia ranks 4 of 46 states publishing a median for sociology teachers, postsecondary, at $103,160 — about 22.39% above the national median. A state's position on nominal pay is the figure wage tables report and the least informative of the three on this page, because it survives neither the tax adjustment nor the price adjustment intact for most occupations.
- Sociology teachers, postsecondary ranks 106 of 390 occupations in District of Columbia by median pay, in the middle bands. Within-state and national positions are separate measurements and a job commonly sits in different quartiles on each.
- Take-home for sociology teachers, postsecondary in District of Columbia, on $103,160, is $75,603; deflated by the state's price level, $68,231. ⚠️ The deflator is statewide, so it understates the erosion in the state's metropolitan areas and overstates it outside them. At $120,640 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Sociology Teachers, Postsecondary
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $66,410 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $103,160 |
| Top tenth earn over | $224,340 |
| This salary | $103,160 |
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 District of Columbia | $75,603 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $81,403 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$15,538 |
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 | $94,915 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$21,463 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 111 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $103,160 as a midpoint for District of Columbia, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $66,410 and the ninetieth is $224,340 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $75,603 take-home in District of Columbia comes from $103,160. 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 390.
- One number stands for prices across all of District of Columbia, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $68,231, the adjusted value of that $103,160 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 390 in the state.
- The District of Columbia median of $103,160 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $66,410 to $224,340. 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 $75,603, from $103,160, assumes a single District of Columbia 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 390 locally, and the state ranks 4 of 46 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for District of Columbia, so $68,231 — the adjusted value of that $103,160 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 390 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 $120,640, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $66,410, the highest tenth $224,340, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
A larger wage in a dearer place is not automatically more. Adjusted for local prices, this pay behaves like $68,231 of national purchasing power.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Four deductions, stacked. The federal layer and the two payroll taxes apply wherever you work; District of Columbia then takes its own share, leaving $75,603.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 46 states here, and a missing state means too few reports, not no jobs.
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 District of Columbia is $120,640. 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 ($66,410) and the ninetieth ($224,340) 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?
District of Columbia's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $68,231 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 $75,603 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and District of Columbia 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.
Why does this occupation lack published estimates in every state?
BLS suppresses estimates failing disclosure or reliability criteria. This occupation has published state-level estimates in 46 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.