Teaching Assistants, Except Postsecondary in Arizona
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$30,531
after federal, FICA and Arizona tax
Tax takes
$5,369
15.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$30,197
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
$35,900
Kept after tax
$30,531
Worth in national money
$30,197
State rank
26
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Arizona pays this job around $35,900 at the midpoint, 26 of 51 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Against 491 occupations Arizona publishes, this job lands at 466. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- No great distortion either way. Arizona costs about what the country costs, so from $35,900, take-home of $30,531 is worth roughly $30,197 in national money. The average comes to $36,760, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- For teaching assistants, except postsecondary the Arizona median is $35,900, ranking 26 of 51 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 466 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.
- Price parity in Arizona is near the national base, so for teaching assistants, except postsecondary, whose median is $35,900, the adjusted figure of $30,197 differs little from $30,531 retained after tax. The state's position for this occupation is therefore set by wage and tax rather than by living costs. At $36,760 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Teaching Assistants, Except Postsecondary
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $30,960 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $35,900 |
| Top tenth earn over | $42,590 |
| This salary | $35,900 |
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 | $30,531 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $31,026 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$1,731 |
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 | $35,284 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$2,093 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 101 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $35,900 as a midpoint for Arizona, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $30,960 and the ninetieth is $42,590 — 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 $30,531, worked from $35,900. 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 466 of 491.
- One number stands for prices across all of Arizona, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $30,197, the adjusted value of that $35,900 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 466 of 491 in the state.
- The Arizona median of $35,900 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $30,960 to $42,590. 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 $30,531, on $35,900 for work ranking 466 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 466 of 491 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Arizona, so $30,197 — the adjusted value of that $35,900 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 466 of 491 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $30,960 and the top tenth $42,590, so most people doing this work in Arizona sit within a fairly tight band.
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 $30,197 — 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, $30,531 remains.
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.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($30,960 to $42,590) 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 $30,197 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 $30,531 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.
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.