Special Education Teachers, Secondary School in Virginia
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$53,777
after federal, FICA and Virginia tax
Tax takes
$14,623
21.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$53,377
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
$68,400
Kept after tax
$53,777
Worth in national money
$53,377
State rank
22
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Virginia sits in the middle of the pack for this job. The median is $68,400, ranking 22 of 51 states with figures. Close enough to the national middle that where you live matters more than the headline suggests.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 489 occupations Virginia reports figures for, this is number 179.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $68,400 the take-home is $53,777, which is worth about $53,377 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is higher, $75,200, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Virginia occupies the middle band for special education teachers, secondary school: a median of $68,400, ranking 22 of 51. Where nominal pay is close to the national figure, the tax and price adjustments below carry proportionally more weight in determining the real outcome.
- In Virginia's occupational distribution, special education teachers, secondary school sits at 179 of 489 — neither quartile. This local position is what a resident compares against, and it is determined by the state's own labor market rather than by national patterns for this occupation.
- Virginia's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for special education teachers, secondary school on its $68,400 median: $53,777 retained after tax becomes $53,377 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $75,200 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Special Education Teachers, Secondary School
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $50,510 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $68,400 |
| Top tenth earn over | $109,100 |
| This salary | $68,400 |
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 | $53,777 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $56,949 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$5,228 |
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 | $64,215 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$6,559 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 101 |
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 Virginia earn under $68,400 and half over. The published range runs $50,510 at the tenth percentile to $109,100 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Virginia's $53,777, worked from $68,400. 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 179 of 489.
- One number stands for prices across all of Virginia, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $53,377, the adjusted value of that $68,400 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 179 of 489 in the state.
- Figures are distribution medians for special education teachers, secondary school in Virginia, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $50,510 to $109,100; 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.
- The Virginia take-home of $53,777, on $68,400 for work ranking 179 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 179 of 489 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Virginia, so $53,377 — the adjusted value of that $68,400 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 179 of 489 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
Half earn more than this and half earn less. The average sits at $75,200 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
The label is broader than the work. From $50,510 at the bottom tenth to $109,100 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
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 $53,377 of national purchasing power.
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 $53,777 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 $75,200. 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 ($50,510) and the ninetieth ($109,100) 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 $53,377 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 $53,777 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.