Substitute Teachers, Short-Term in Texas
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$27,924
after federal, FICA and Texas tax
Tax takes
$4,116
12.8% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$28,736
Texas costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Texas — 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
$32,040
Kept after tax
$27,924
Worth in national money
$28,736
State rank
39
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Texas is among the lower-paying states for substitute teachers, short-term. The middle earner takes $32,040, ranking 39 of 50 states — about 23.11% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
- Measured against other jobs in Texas, this one sits low: 462 of 493 occupations with published pay, in the bottom quarter.
- Prices here sit close to the national average, so the adjustment changes little. From $32,040 the take-home is $27,924, which is worth about $28,736 in comparable money. Tax does most of the work here, not cost of living. The average is higher, $32,760, because the best-paid pull it up.
- Texas ranks 39 of 50 for substitute teachers, short-term, with a median of $32,040 — about 23.11% below the national figure. A nominal shortfall is not by itself a real one: lower-paying states frequently carry lower tax and lower price levels, and the adjusted figures below are where that is settled rather than assumed.
- Substitute teachers, short-term occupies position 462 of 493 in Texas's occupational wage distribution, in the bottom quartile. National ranking and local ranking answer different questions and frequently disagree; this is the one a resident experiences.
- Texas's price level is near the national average, so price deflation is close to neutral for substitute teachers, short-term on its $32,040 median: $27,924 retained after tax becomes $28,736 in national-average terms. Where the price adjustment is small, the tax stack is the dominant determinant of the real outcome. The mean of $32,760 sits above the median, the right skew typical of wage data.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Substitute Teachers, Short-Term
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $22,870 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $32,040 |
| Top tenth earn over | $39,090 |
| This salary | $32,040 |
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 Texas | $27,924 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Florida | $27,924 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$1,744 |
The raise and the real gain point in opposite directions here.
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 | $32,040 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$2,245 |
| Prices in Florida | 103 vs 97 |
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 substitute teachers, short-term in Texas earn under $32,040 and half over. The published range runs $22,870 at the tenth percentile to $39,090 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 Texas's $27,924, worked from $32,040. 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 462 of 493.
- Two cautions on $28,736, the adjusted value of that $32,040 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Texas. No actual address matches that. The wage figures and price figures are also from different years. Each is published on its own timetable. This work sits at 462 of 493 locally.
- Figures are distribution medians for substitute teachers, short-term in Texas, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $22,870 to $39,090; 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 Texas take-home of $27,924, on $32,040 for work ranking 462 of 493 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 462 of 493 in the state.
- This $28,736 adjusted figure, worked from $32,040, rests on a state-level price parity averaging over within-state dispersion larger than much of the between-state dispersion. Wage and price vintages differ by publication schedule. The result is directionally sound and not address-specific, for work at 462 of 493 in the state. The occupation ranks 462 of 493 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $22,870 and the top tenth $39,090, so most people doing this work in Texas sit within a fairly tight band.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in Texas sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $28,736 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
Is most of this wage taxed away?
Less than people assume. $27,924 of this wage reaches your account, because Texas takes no income tax from wages — but federal tax, Social Security and Medicare still apply exactly as they do everywhere else.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 50 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release one.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($22,870 to $39,090) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Texas rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Texas'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 $28,736 in national-average terms. The adjustment uses an all-items index and does not isolate housing.
Why is the take-home ratio comparatively high in this state?
Texas levies no personal income tax on wages, so take-home of $27,924 reflects the federal layer and FICA alone. Federal income tax and FICA are unchanged; states without a wage income tax generally recover revenue through consumption and property bases instead.
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.