Special Education Teachers, Preschool in Maine
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$48,161
after federal, FICA and Maine tax
Tax takes
$12,519
20.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$49,600
Maine costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Maine — 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
$60,680
Kept after tax
$48,161
Worth in national money
$49,600
State rank
26
of 45 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. Maine is 26 of 45 states for this job, with a middle wage of $60,680. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- Against other work in Maine, this sits in the middle: 233 of 484 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $60,680 the take-home is $48,161, which is worth about $49,600 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is lower, $60,130, so pay clusters nearer the top than usual.
- Maine ranks 26 of 45 for special education teachers, preschool at $60,680. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- Special education teachers, preschool ranks 233 of 484 occupations in Maine 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.
- Maine's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for special education teachers, preschool on its $60,680 median: $48,161 retained after tax becomes $49,600 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $60,130 falls below the median, a left skew that is uncommon in wage data.
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Pay band: Special Education Teachers, Preschool
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $48,050 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $60,680 |
| Top tenth earn over | $74,870 |
| This salary | $60,680 |
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 Maine | $48,161 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $50,936 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$2,817 |
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 | $57,225 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$3,407 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 97 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Maine earn less than $60,680. The published range is $48,050 up to $74,870, 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 Maine's $48,161, worked from $60,680. 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 233 of 484.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $49,600 uses one figure for the whole of Maine. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 484 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 233.
- Reported values are medians; for special education teachers, preschool in Maine the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $48,050 to $74,870. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The Maine take-home of $48,161, on $60,680 for work ranking 233 of 484 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 233 of 484 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $49,600, worked from $60,680, 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 Maine address, on work sitting at 233 of 484 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $48,050 at the bottom tenth to $74,870 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in Maine sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $49,600 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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 Maine adds its own income tax on top — which is why $48,161 of this wage survives to your account.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 45 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release one.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($48,050 to $74,870) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Maine rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Maine'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 $49,600 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 $48,161 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Maine 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 45 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.