Sociology Teachers, Postsecondary in Indiana
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$62,699
after federal, FICA and Indiana tax
Tax takes
$17,181
21.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$68,015
Indiana costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Indiana — 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
$79,880
Kept after tax
$62,699
Worth in national money
$68,015
State rank
24
of 46 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Indiana sits in the middle of the pack for this job. The median is $79,880, ranking 24 of 46 states with figures. Close enough to the national middle that where you live matters more than the headline suggests.
- This is one of the better-paid jobs in Indiana. It ranks 106 out of 493 occupations the state publishes figures for, which puts it in the top quarter locally.
- Here is where Indiana does better than its wage suggests. From a median of $79,880 you keep $62,699, and because things cost less here than the national average, that behaves like $68,015 would elsewhere. The average is higher, $93,760, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Indiana occupies the middle band for sociology teachers, postsecondary: a median of $79,880, ranking 24 of 46. Where nominal pay is close to the national figure, the tax and price adjustments below carry proportionally more weight in determining the real outcome.
- Within Indiana, sociology teachers, postsecondary ranks 106 of 493 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 federal, FICA and Indiana income tax, retained pay for sociology teachers, postsecondary on $79,880 is $62,699. Deflating by the state's price level — below the national average — gives $68,015 in national-average terms. ⚠️ That figure is purchasing power, not a wage, and nobody is paid it; it is what the take-home buys. The mean of $93,760 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
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Pay band: Sociology Teachers, Postsecondary
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $52,680 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $79,880 |
| Top tenth earn over | $145,190 |
| This salary | $79,880 |
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 Indiana | $62,699 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $65,026 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,099 |
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 | $76,572 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$1,518 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 92 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Indiana earn less than $79,880. The published range is $52,680 up to $145,190, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $62,699 take-home in Indiana comes from $79,880. 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 493.
- Two cautions on $68,015, the adjusted value of that $79,880 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Indiana. 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 106 of 493 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for sociology teachers, postsecondary in Indiana the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $52,680 to $145,190. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $62,699, from $79,880, assumes a single Indiana 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 493 locally, and the state ranks 24 of 46 for it.
- This $68,015 adjusted figure, worked from $79,880, 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 106 of 493 in the state. The occupation ranks 106 of 493 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 $93,760 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $52,680, the highest tenth $145,190, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
A smaller wage in a cheaper place is not automatically less. Adjusted for local prices, this is worth $68,015.
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 Indiana adds its own income tax on top — which is why $62,699 of this wage survives to your account.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 46 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release 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 Indiana is $93,760. 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 ($52,680) and the ninetieth ($145,190) 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.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Indiana'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 $68,015 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 $62,699 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Indiana 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.