Special Education Teachers, Kindergarten and Elementary School in Florida
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$49,466
after federal, FICA and Florida tax
Tax takes
$9,384
15.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$47,815
Florida costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Florida — 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
$58,850
Kept after tax
$49,466
Worth in national money
$47,815
State rank
39
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Florida pays this job a middle wage of $58,850, 39 of 51 states and about 9.63% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Against other work in Florida, this sits in the middle: 218 of 493 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Florida is an expensive state, and the adjusted figure shows it. From $58,850 the take-home is $49,466; in national-average money that behaves like $47,815. The average comes to $60,600, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Florida's $58,850 median for special education teachers, kindergarten and elementary school places it 39 of 51 states, about 9.63% below national. Because both the tax and price adjustments tend to favor lower-nominal states, this ranking is the least stable of the three reported here.
- Special education teachers, kindergarten and elementary school ranks 218 of 493 occupations in Florida 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 special education teachers, kindergarten and elementary school in Florida, on $58,850, is $49,466; deflated by the state's price level, $47,815. ⚠️ The deflator is statewide, so it understates the erosion in the state's metropolitan areas and overstates it outside them. At $60,600 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Special Education Teachers, Kindergarten and Elementary School
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $51,730 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $58,850 |
| Top tenth earn over | $74,160 |
| This salary | $58,850 |
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 Florida | $49,466 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $49,466 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$3,089 |
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 | $58,850 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$3,735 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 103 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- A median is the middle, not an offer. Half of special education teachers, kindergarten and elementary school in Florida earn under $58,850 and half over. The published range runs $51,730 at the tenth percentile to $74,160 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $49,466 take-home in Florida comes from $58,850. 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 218 of 493.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $47,815 uses one figure for the whole of Florida. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 493 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 218.
- Figures are distribution medians for special education teachers, kindergarten and elementary school in Florida, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $51,730 to $74,160; within-state dispersion of that width routinely exceeds the dispersion between states, so tenure, employer and metropolitan area predict an individual's pay better than geography does.
- Retained pay of $49,466, from $58,850, assumes a single Florida 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 218 of 493 locally, and the state ranks 39 of 51 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $47,815, worked from $58,850, deflates by a statewide parity that conceals substantial intra-state variation, concentrated in housing — so it supports comparison between states rather than the pricing of a move to a particular Florida address, on work sitting at 218 of 493 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $51,730 at the tenth percentile, $74,160 at the ninetieth.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
Not on its own. Prices in Florida run above the national level, so the same dollars buy less here. Adjusted for that, this pay is worth $47,815 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
No. $49,466 survives, because Florida levies no wage income tax. The federal share does not change with the state you work in.
Can I compare this job across every state?
All 51 jurisdictions report this work, which makes the ranking a like-for-like one.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($51,730 to $74,160) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Florida rather than a national figure.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
Florida's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $47,815 in national-average terms. ⚠️ RPPs are an all-items index; housing parities vary far more widely than the headline figure.
Why is the take-home ratio comparatively high in this state?
Florida levies no personal income tax on wages, so take-home of $49,466 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.