Sociology Teachers, Postsecondary in Virginia
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$60,056
after federal, FICA and Virginia tax
Tax takes
$18,064
23.1% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$59,610
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
$78,120
Kept after tax
$60,056
Worth in national money
$59,610
State rank
31
of 46 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is on the low side in Virginia. The middle earner gets $78,120. That is 31 of 46 states, and about 7.32% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 489 occupations Virginia reports figures for, this is number 141.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $78,120, tax leaves $60,056, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $59,610 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $85,930, since top earners drag the number up.
- For sociology teachers, postsecondary, Virginia sits in the lower band at $78,120, ranking 31 of 46 and trailing the national median by about 7.32%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- In Virginia's occupational distribution, sociology teachers, postsecondary sits at 141 of 489 — 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.
- Because Virginia sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for sociology teachers, postsecondary — median $78,120 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $60,056 retained, $59,610 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $85,930 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Sociology Teachers, Postsecondary
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $44,980 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $78,120 |
| Top tenth earn over | $127,460 |
| This salary | $78,120 |
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 | $60,056 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $63,787 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$6,032 |
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 | $72,816 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$8,332 |
| 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 $78,120. The published range is $44,980 up to $127,460, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $60,056 take-home in Virginia comes from $78,120. 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 141 of 489.
- One number stands for prices across all of Virginia, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $59,610, the adjusted value of that $78,120 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 141 of 489 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for sociology teachers, postsecondary in Virginia the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $44,980 to $127,460. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $60,056, from $78,120, assumes a single Virginia 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 141 of 489 locally, and the state ranks 31 of 46 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Virginia, so $59,610 — the adjusted value of that $78,120 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 141 of 489 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 $85,930, 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?
The label is broader than the work. From $44,980 at the bottom tenth to $127,460 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
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 $59,610 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; Virginia then takes its own share, leaving $60,056.
Why is this job missing from some states?
Because the survey suppresses a figure when too few employers report it. This occupation has published pay in 46 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
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 $85,930. 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 ($44,980) and the ninetieth ($127,460) 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 $59,610 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 $60,056 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.
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.