Special Education Teachers, Preschool in Utah
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$46,377
after federal, FICA and Utah tax
Tax takes
$11,853
20.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$48,816
Utah costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Utah — 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
$58,230
Kept after tax
$46,377
Worth in national money
$48,816
State rank
37
of 45 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- The nominal figure here is modest. Utah pays this job a middle wage of $58,230, 37 of 45 states and about 10.18% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
- Against other work in Utah, this sits in the middle: 247 of 487 occupations with published pay. Solidly ordinary for the state, which is not the same as ordinary nationally.
- Utah is cheaper than average, and that shows up here. From $58,230 the take-home is $46,377; adjusted for what things actually cost, it goes as far as $48,816 would nationally. The average comes to $66,570, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Utah's $58,230 median for special education teachers, preschool places it 37 of 45 states, about 10.18% 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, preschool ranks 247 of 487 occupations in Utah 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.
- Post-tax income for special education teachers, preschool in Utah, on $58,230, is $46,377 — equivalent to $48,816 once regional price parity is applied. ⚠️ The adjustment uses a statewide index that describes no particular address; within-state price variation, concentrated in housing, routinely exceeds the difference between two states. At $66,570 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
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Pay band: Special Education Teachers, Preschool
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $50,630 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $58,230 |
| Top tenth earn over | $93,410 |
| This salary | $58,230 |
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 Utah | $46,377 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $48,968 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$1,575 |
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 | $55,005 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$1,905 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 95 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $58,230 as a midpoint for Utah, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $50,630 and the ninetieth is $93,410 — 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 Utah's $46,377, worked from $58,230. 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 247 of 487.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $48,816 uses one figure for the whole of Utah. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 487 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 247.
- The Utah median of $58,230 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $50,630 to $93,410. 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 Utah take-home of $46,377, on $58,230 for work ranking 247 of 487 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 247 of 487 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $48,816, worked from $58,230, 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 Utah address, on work sitting at 247 of 487 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $66,570, 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 $50,630, the highest tenth $93,410, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in Utah sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $48,816 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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; Utah then takes its own share, leaving $46,377.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 45 states here, and a missing state means too few reports, not no jobs.
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 Utah is $66,570. 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 ($50,630) and the ninetieth ($93,410) 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.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Utah'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 $48,816 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 $46,377 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Utah 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.