Substitute Teachers, Short-Term in Arizona
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$32,555
after federal, FICA and Arizona tax
Tax takes
$5,945
15.4% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$32,199
Arizona costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Arizona — 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
$38,500
Kept after tax
$32,555
Worth in national money
$32,199
State rank
21
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Arizona pays substitute teachers, short-term around $38,500 at the midpoint, 21 of 50 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Against 491 occupations Arizona publishes, substitute teachers, short-term lands at 439. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $38,500, tax leaves $32,555, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $32,199 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $41,780, since top earners drag the number up.
- For substitute teachers, short-term the Arizona median is $38,500, ranking 21 of 50 states reporting. Mid-band nominal positions are the ones most frequently reordered by the adjustments, because no large wage premium exists to absorb a state's tax or price level.
- Within Arizona, this work ranks 439 of 491 occupations by median pay, in the bottom quartile. The within-state position is the more salient one for anyone weighing this job against alternatives available to them locally.
- Because Arizona sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for substitute teachers, short-term — median $38,500 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $32,555 retained, $32,199 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $41,780 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Substitute Teachers, Short-Term
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $31,170 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $38,500 |
| Top tenth earn over | $50,290 |
| This salary | $38,500 |
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 Arizona | $32,555 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $33,115 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$1,878 |
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 | $37,803 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$2,272 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 101 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $38,500 as a midpoint for Arizona, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $31,170 and the ninetieth is $50,290 — 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 Arizona's $32,555, worked from $38,500. 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 439 of 491.
- One number stands for prices across all of Arizona, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $32,199, the adjusted value of that $38,500 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 439 of 491 in the state.
- The Arizona median of $38,500 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $31,170 to $50,290. 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 Arizona take-home of $32,555, on $38,500 for work ranking 439 of 491 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 439 of 491 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Arizona, so $32,199 — the adjusted value of that $38,500 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 439 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $41,780, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
The range here is narrow. From $31,170 at the bottom tenth to $50,290 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
Not on its own. Prices in Arizona run above the national level, so the same dollars buy less here. Adjusted for that, this pay is worth $32,199 — the wage did not change, only what it covers.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Three of them are federal and one is not. After income tax, Social Security, Medicare and Arizona's own levy, $32,555 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 50 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 Arizona is $41,780. 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 is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($31,170 to $50,290) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Arizona rather than a national figure.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
Arizona's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $32,199 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 $32,555 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Arizona 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 50 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.