Special Education Teachers, Kindergarten and Elementary School in Virginia
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$53,351
after federal, FICA and Virginia tax
Tax takes
$14,389
21.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$52,954
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
$67,740
Kept after tax
$53,351
Worth in national money
$52,954
State rank
20
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Virginia pays this job around $67,740 at the midpoint, 20 of 51 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Against other work in Virginia, this sits in the middle: 181 of 489 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- No great distortion either way. Virginia costs about what the country costs, so from $67,740, take-home of $53,351 is worth roughly $52,954 in national money. The average comes to $72,890, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For special education teachers, kindergarten and elementary school the Virginia median is $67,740, ranking 20 of 51 states reporting. Mid-band nominal positions are the ones most frequently reordered by the adjustments, because no large wage premium exists to absorb a state's tax or price level.
- Special education teachers, kindergarten and elementary school ranks 181 of 489 occupations in Virginia 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.
- Price parity in Virginia is near the national base, so for special education teachers, kindergarten and elementary school, whose median is $67,740, the adjusted figure of $52,954 differs little from $53,351 retained after tax. The state's position for this occupation is therefore set by wage and tax rather than by living costs. At $72,890 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
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Pay band: Special Education Teachers, Kindergarten and Elementary School
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $50,830 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $67,740 |
| Top tenth earn over | $101,120 |
| This salary | $67,740 |
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 | $53,351 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $56,485 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$5,173 |
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 | $63,685 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$6,411 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 101 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $67,740 as a midpoint for Virginia, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $50,830 and the ninetieth is $101,120 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- That $53,351 take-home in Virginia comes from $67,740. 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 181 of 489.
- One number stands for prices across all of Virginia, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $52,954, the adjusted value of that $67,740 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 181 of 489 in the state.
- The Virginia median of $67,740 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $50,830 to $101,120. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- Retained pay of $53,351, from $67,740, 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 181 of 489 locally, and the state ranks 20 of 51 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Virginia, so $52,954 — the adjusted value of that $67,740 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 181 of 489 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $72,890, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $50,830, the highest tenth $101,120, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
The number and the value are different things. Virginia costs more than the national average, so this take-home stretches like $52,954 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 Virginia adds its own income tax on top — which is why $53,351 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 Virginia is $72,890. 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 ($50,830) and the ninetieth ($101,120) 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 $52,954 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 $53,351 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.
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.