Teaching Assistants, Except Postsecondary in Maryland
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$30,561
after federal, FICA and Maryland tax
Tax takes
$6,499
17.5% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$29,395
Maryland costs more than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Maryland — 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
$37,060
Kept after tax
$30,561
Worth in national money
$29,395
State rank
19
of 51 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. Maryland is 19 of 51 states for this job, with a middle wage of $37,060. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- Within Maryland this is lower-paid work. Of 489 occupations the state publishes figures for, this job ranks 454. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- Costs eat into it here. Of $37,060, tax leaves $30,561 — and because Maryland is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $29,395 would nationally. Averages run higher here, $42,630, since top earners drag the number up.
- Maryland ranks 19 of 51 for teaching assistants, except postsecondary at $37,060. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- Against every occupation Maryland reports, teaching assistants, except postsecondary ranks 454 of 489, 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.
- After tax, $30,561 remains from the Maryland median of $37,060 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $29,395 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $42,630 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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 | $31,200 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $37,060 |
| Top tenth earn over | $59,680 |
| This salary | $37,060 |
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 Maryland | $30,561 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $31,958 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$3,491 |
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 | $35,322 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$4,222 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 104 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Maryland earn less than $37,060. The published range is $31,200 up to $59,680, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- In Maryland the take-home figure of $30,561, from $37,060, 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 454 of 489 occupations here.
- Two cautions on $29,395, the adjusted value of that $37,060 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Maryland. 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 454 of 489 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for teaching assistants, except postsecondary in Maryland the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $31,200 to $59,680. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Take-home for Maryland is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $30,561 from $37,060. 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 454 of 489 locally.
- This $29,395 adjusted figure, worked from $37,060, 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 454 of 489 in the state. The occupation ranks 454 of 489 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 $42,630, pulled upward by the top of the range, which is why the middle is the fairer number to plan against.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $31,200 and the top tenth $59,680 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?
Not on its own. Prices in Maryland run above the national level, so the same dollars buy less here. Adjusted for that, this pay is worth $29,395 — 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 Maryland's own levy, $30,561 remains.
Can I compare this job across every state?
Yes for this one. Pay is published in all 51 jurisdictions, so a state-to-state comparison here rests on the same survey everywhere rather than on a patchwork.
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 Maryland is $42,630. 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 drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($31,200) and the ninetieth ($59,680) exceeds the family median dispersion. SOC codes aggregate roles differing in seniority, industry and specialisation, and BLS does not disaggregate below the detailed occupation level, so within-title variance is not separable from the published series.
How does the state price level affect real compensation?
Maryland's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $29,395 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 $30,561 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Maryland 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.