Special Education Teachers, Kindergarten and Elementary School in Hawaii
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$47,957
after federal, FICA and Hawaii tax
Tax takes
$12,983
21.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$44,156
Hawaii costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Hawaii — 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
$60,940
Kept after tax
$47,957
Worth in national money
$44,156
State rank
34
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. Hawaii is 34 of 51 states for this job, with a middle wage of $60,940. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 234 among 437 occupations Hawaii publishes pay for.
- Costs eat into it here. Of $60,940, tax leaves $47,957 — and because Hawaii is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $44,156 would nationally. Averages run higher here, $68,060, since top earners drag the number up.
- Hawaii ranks 34 of 51 for special education teachers, kindergarten and elementary school at $60,940. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- Position 234 of 437 in Hawaii places special education teachers, kindergarten and elementary school 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.
- After tax, $47,957 remains from the Hawaii median of $60,940 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $44,156 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $68,060 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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 | $58,730 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $60,940 |
| Top tenth earn over | $78,760 |
| This salary | $60,940 |
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 Hawaii | $47,957 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $51,145 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$8,476 |
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 | $56,972 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$10,251 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 109 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $60,940 as a midpoint for Hawaii, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $58,730 and the ninetieth is $78,760 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Hawaii's $47,957, worked from $60,940. 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 234 of 437.
- One number stands for prices across all of Hawaii, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $44,156, the adjusted value of that $60,940 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 234 of 437 in the state.
- The Hawaii median of $60,940 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $58,730 to $78,760. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- The Hawaii take-home of $47,957, on $60,940 for work ranking 234 of 437 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 234 of 437 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Hawaii, so $44,156 — the adjusted value of that $60,940 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 234 of 437 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 $68,060 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $58,730 at the bottom tenth to $78,760 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
The number and the value are different things. Hawaii costs more than the national average, so this take-home stretches like $44,156 rather than its face figure.
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 Hawaii adds its own income tax on top — which is why $47,957 of this wage survives to your account.
Can I compare this job across every state?
This occupation is published everywhere — all 51 of them — so comparing states measures real differences rather than gaps in the data.
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 Hawaii is $68,060. 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 is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($58,730 to $78,760) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Hawaii rather than a national figure.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
Hawaii's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $44,156 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 $47,957 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Hawaii 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.