Teaching Assistants, Except Postsecondary in Maine
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$37,908
after federal, FICA and Maine tax
Tax takes
$8,842
18.9% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$39,041
Maine costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Maine — 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
$46,750
Kept after tax
$37,908
Worth in national money
$39,041
State rank
3
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Maine is one of the better-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $46,750, which ranks 3 of 51 states with published figures. That is about 27.11% above the national middle.
- Against 484 occupations Maine publishes, this job lands at 373. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $46,750, tax leaves $37,908, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $39,041 in comparable terms. Here the average runs under the middle, at $45,790.
- Maine ranks 3 of 51 states publishing a median for teaching assistants, except postsecondary, at $46,750 — about 27.11% above the national median. A state's position on nominal pay is the figure wage tables report and the least informative of the three on this page, because it survives neither the tax adjustment nor the price adjustment intact for most occupations.
- Within Maine, this work ranks 373 of 484 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 Maine sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for teaching assistants, except postsecondary — median $46,750 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $37,908 retained, $39,041 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $45,790 sits under the median, so the lower tail is the longer one.
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 | $36,210 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $46,750 |
| Top tenth earn over | $56,920 |
| This salary | $46,750 |
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 Maine | $37,908 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $39,744 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$1,858 |
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 | $44,466 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$2,247 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 97 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $46,750 as a midpoint for Maine, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $36,210 and the ninetieth is $56,920 — 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 Maine's $37,908, worked from $46,750. 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 373 of 484.
- One number stands for prices across all of Maine, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $39,041, the adjusted value of that $46,750 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 373 of 484 in the state.
- The Maine median of $46,750 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $36,210 to $56,920. 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 Maine take-home of $37,908, on $46,750 for work ranking 373 of 484 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 373 of 484 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for Maine, so $39,041 — the adjusted value of that $46,750 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 373 of 484 locally.
Questions people ask
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $36,210 and the top tenth $56,920, so most people doing this work in Maine sit within a fairly tight band.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Maine is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $39,041 in national terms.
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 Maine adds its own income tax on top — which is why $37,908 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.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($36,210 to $56,920) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Maine rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Maine'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 $39,041 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 $37,908 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Maine 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.