Special Education Teachers, Secondary School in New York
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$67,431
after federal, FICA and New York tax
Tax takes
$21,879
24.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$62,653
New York costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in New York — 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
$89,310
Kept after tax
$67,431
Worth in national money
$62,653
State rank
6
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for this job is strong here. New York's middle earner gets $89,310, putting the state 6 of 51 — about 20.27% ahead of the national figure.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 150 among 493 occupations New York publishes pay for.
- New York is an expensive state, and the adjusted figure shows it. From $89,310 the take-home is $67,431; in national-average money that behaves like $62,653. The average comes to $95,910, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For special education teachers, secondary school, New York sits in the upper band nationally: a median of $89,310, ranking 6 of 51 and running about 20.27% above the national midpoint. Nominal advantage of this size is usually, though not always, large enough to survive the state's own tax and price levels.
- Position 150 of 493 in New York places special education teachers, secondary school 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.
- Take-home for special education teachers, secondary school in New York, on $89,310, is $67,431; deflated by the state's price level, $62,653. ⚠️ The deflator is statewide, so it understates the erosion in the state's metropolitan areas and overstates it outside them. At $95,910 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
Choose your filing status and local taxes, compare pay, and keep a shortlist.Compare wage and personal-pay outcomes by state, with selected resident local taxes and saved career choices.
Pay band: Special Education Teachers, Secondary School
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $60,740 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $89,310 |
| Top tenth earn over | $134,460 |
| This salary | $89,310 |
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 New York | $67,431 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $71,660 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$11,090 |
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 | $83,299 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$15,319 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 108 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- A median is the middle, not an offer. Half of special education teachers, secondary school in New York earn under $89,310 and half over. The published range runs $60,740 at the tenth percentile to $134,460 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- That $67,431 take-home in New York comes from $89,310. 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 150 of 493.
- One number stands for prices across all of New York, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $62,653, the adjusted value of that $89,310 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 150 of 493 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for special education teachers, secondary school in New York, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $60,740 to $134,460; within-state dispersion of that width routinely exceeds the dispersion between states, so tenure, employer and metropolitan area predict an individual's pay better than geography does.
- Retained pay of $67,431, from $89,310, assumes a single New York 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 150 of 493 locally, and the state ranks 6 of 51 for it.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for New York, so $62,653 — the adjusted value of that $89,310 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 150 of 493 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
No — it is the middle. Half of these workers earn more and half earn less. The average is $95,910, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $60,740 and the top tenth $134,460 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
Not on its own. Prices in New York run above the national level, so the same dollars buy less here. Adjusted for that, this pay is worth $62,653 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.
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 New York adds its own income tax on top — which is why $67,431 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 New York is $95,910. 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 ($60,740) and the ninetieth ($134,460) 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?
New York's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $62,653 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 $67,431 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and New York 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.