Special Education Teachers, Preschool in Virginia
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$59,701
after federal, FICA and Virginia tax
Tax takes
$17,869
23.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$59,257
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
$77,570
Kept after tax
$59,701
Worth in national money
$59,257
State rank
10
of 45 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Virginia is one of the better-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $77,570, which ranks 10 of 45 states with published figures. That is about 19.65% above the national middle.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 144 among 489 occupations Virginia publishes pay for.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $77,570, tax leaves $59,701, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $59,257 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $79,490, since top earners drag the number up.
- Virginia ranks 10 of 45 states publishing a median for special education teachers, preschool, at $77,570 — about 19.65% above the national median. A state's position on nominal pay is the figure wage tables report and the least informative of the three on this page, because it survives neither the tax adjustment nor the price adjustment intact for most occupations.
- Position 144 of 489 in Virginia places special education teachers, preschool 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.
- Because Virginia sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for special education teachers, preschool — median $77,570 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $59,701 retained, $59,257 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $79,490 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, Preschool
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $50,350 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $77,570 |
| Top tenth earn over | $122,530 |
| This salary | $77,570 |
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 | $59,701 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $63,400 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$5,987 |
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 | $72,311 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$8,269 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 101 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $77,570 as a midpoint for Virginia, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $50,350 and the ninetieth is $122,530 — 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 Virginia's $59,701, worked from $77,570. 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 144 of 489.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $59,257 uses one figure for the whole of Virginia. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 489 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 144.
- The Virginia median of $77,570 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $50,350 to $122,530. 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 Virginia take-home of $59,701, on $77,570 for work ranking 144 of 489 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 144 of 489 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $59,257, worked from $77,570, 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 Virginia address, on work sitting at 144 of 489 locally.
Questions people ask
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $50,350 and the top tenth $122,530 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
A larger wage in a dearer place is not automatically more. Adjusted for local prices, this pay behaves like $59,257 of national purchasing power.
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; Virginia then takes its own share, leaving $59,701.
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.
What drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($50,350) and the ninetieth ($122,530) 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 $59,257 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 $59,701 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.
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.