Substitute Teachers, Short-Term in Vermont
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$31,850
after federal, FICA and Vermont tax
Tax takes
$6,350
16.6% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$32,959
Vermont costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Vermont — 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
$38,200
Kept after tax
$31,850
Worth in national money
$32,959
State rank
23
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. Vermont is 23 of 50 states for substitute teachers, short-term, with a middle wage of $38,200. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- Within Vermont this is lower-paid work. Of 453 occupations the state publishes figures for, substitute teachers, short-term ranks 424. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $38,200 you keep $31,850 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $32,959 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $42,690, since top earners drag the number up.
- Vermont ranks 23 of 50 for substitute teachers, short-term at $38,200. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- Against every occupation Vermont reports, substitute teachers, short-term ranks 424 of 453, in the lowest quartile of the state's distribution. That position is set by the local labor market and is independent of how the state compares nationally for this work.
- Retained pay in Vermont is $31,850 after the full tax stack, from $38,200. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $32,959 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $42,690 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 | $31,470 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $38,200 |
| Top tenth earn over | $54,120 |
| This salary | $38,200 |
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 Vermont | $31,850 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $32,874 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$870 |
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 | $36,926 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$1,052 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 97 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Vermont earn less than $38,200. The published range is $31,470 up to $54,120, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- In Vermont the take-home figure of $31,850, from $38,200, assumes one filer, no dependants, and nothing paid into a pension before tax. Each of those lowers the bill, so treat it as the plain case. City and school-district income taxes are not included either, and in a few states those are real money. It ranks 424 of 453 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $32,959, the adjusted value of that $38,200 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Vermont. 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 424 of 453 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for substitute teachers, short-term in Vermont the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $31,470 to $54,120. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Take-home for Vermont is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $31,850 from $38,200. Each omitted item reduces taxable income, so the figure is a lower bound on retained pay for this household shape. Municipal and school-district income taxes are excluded, which understates the burden materially in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The occupation ranks 424 of 453 locally.
- This $32,959 adjusted figure, worked from $38,200, 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 424 of 453 in the state. The occupation ranks 424 of 453 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 $42,690, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $31,470 and the top tenth $54,120, so most people doing this work in Vermont sit within a fairly tight band.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
More than the figure suggests. Prices in Vermont sit below the national level, so take-home here stretches like $32,959 would elsewhere. The wage is the same; the ground it covers is larger.
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 Vermont adds its own income tax on top — which is why $31,850 of this wage survives to your account.
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.
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 Vermont is $42,690. 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 ($31,470 to $54,120) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Vermont rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Vermont'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 $32,959 in national-average terms. The adjustment uses an all-items index and does not isolate housing.
What accounts for the gap between gross wage and take-home here?
Take-home of $31,850 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Vermont 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.