Special Education Teachers, Kindergarten and Elementary School in Ohio

Books, colored pencils and a globe in a bright classroom.

May 2025 wages · tax year 2026

You keep

$59,550

after federal, FICA and Ohio tax

Tax takes

$14,420

19.5% of the whole

Worth, in national money

$64,861

Ohio costs less than average

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

$73,970

Kept after tax

$59,550

Worth in national money

$64,861

State rank

17

of 51 states

What this pays, and what it is worth

  • This is a good state for the work. Ohio pays this job a middle wage of $73,970, ranking 17 of 51 states and sitting about 13.59% above the national middle.
  • Against other work in Ohio, this sits in the middle: 154 of 494 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
  • Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $73,970 you keep $59,550 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $64,861 at national prices. Here the average runs under the middle, at $71,630.
  • Ohio's median for special education teachers, kindergarten and elementary school is $73,970, about 13.59% above the national figure and 17 of 51 states reporting. Whether that premium reaches the worker depends on the two adjustments below, which is the part a wage table cannot tell you.
  • Special education teachers, kindergarten and elementary school ranks 154 of 494 occupations in Ohio 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.
  • Retained pay in Ohio is $59,550 after the full tax stack, from $73,970. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $64,861 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $71,630 sits under the median, so the lower tail is the longer one.

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Pay band: Special Education Teachers, Kindergarten and Elementary School

The state median for this job

50thpercentile, roughly
Lowest tenth earn under$46,870
Half earn under$73,970
Top tenth earn over$99,490
This salary$73,970

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

Compare with
+$1,318take-home per year in Texas
Take-home in Ohio$59,550
Take-home in Texas$60,868
Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity−$2,224

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

Moving to
$0$77,041
$77,041in Texas, for the same life
To match take-home only$72,097
Raise you would need+$3,071
Prices in Texas97 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 Ohio earn less than $73,970. The published range is $46,870 up to $99,490, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
  • One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Ohio's $59,550, worked from $73,970. 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 154 of 494.
  • One number stands for prices across all of Ohio, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $64,861, the adjusted value of that $73,970 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 154 of 494 in the state.
  • Reported values are medians; for special education teachers, kindergarten and elementary school in Ohio the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $46,870 to $99,490. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
  • The Ohio take-home of $59,550, on $73,970 for work ranking 154 of 494 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 154 of 494 in the state.
  • Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Ohio, so $64,861 — the adjusted value of that $73,970 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 154 of 494 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 $71,630 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 $46,870 at the bottom tenth to $99,490 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.

What does this pay actually buy where I live?

Further than the number implies. Ohio is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $64,861 in national terms.

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; Ohio then takes its own share, leaving $59,550.

Can I compare this job across every state?

All 51 jurisdictions report this work, which makes the ranking a like-for-like 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 Ohio is $71,630. 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 ($46,870 to $99,490) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Ohio rather than a national figure.

What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?

Ohio'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 $64,861 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 $59,550 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Ohio 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.