Teaching Assistants, Except Postsecondary in Vermont

Books, colored pencils and a globe in a bright classroom.

May 2025 wages · tax year 2026

You keep

$36,162

after federal, FICA and Vermont tax

Tax takes

$7,638

17.4% of the whole

Worth, in national money

$37,422

Vermont costs less than average

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

$43,800

Kept after tax

$36,162

Worth in national money

$37,422

State rank

5

of 51 states

What this pays, and what it is worth

  • This is a good state for the work. Vermont pays this job a middle wage of $43,800, ranking 5 of 51 states and sitting about 19.09% above the national middle.
  • Within Vermont this is lower-paid work. Of 453 occupations the state publishes figures for, this job ranks 398. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
  • Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $43,800 you keep $36,162 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $37,422 at national prices. Here the average runs under the middle, at $42,040.
  • Vermont's median for teaching assistants, except postsecondary is $43,800, about 19.09% above the national figure and 5 of 51 states reporting. Whether that premium reaches the worker depends on the two adjustments below, which is the part a wage table cannot tell you.
  • Against every occupation Vermont reports, teaching assistants, except postsecondary ranks 398 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 $36,162 after the full tax stack, from $43,800. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $37,422 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $42,040 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

50thpercentile, roughly
Lowest tenth earn under$29,140
Half earn under$43,800
Top tenth earn over$51,580
This salary$43,800

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

Compare with
+$1,211take-home per year in Texas
Take-home in Vermont$36,162
Take-home in Texas$37,373
Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity+$1,038

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

Moving to
$0now · $43,800$42,544
$42,544in Texas, for the same life
To match take-home only$42,293
You could take a cut of−$1,256
Prices in Texas97 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 $43,800. The published range is $29,140 up to $51,580, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
  • In Vermont the take-home figure of $36,162, from $43,800, 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 398 of 453 occupations here.
  • Two cautions on $37,422, the adjusted value of that $43,800 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 398 of 453 locally.
  • Reported values are medians; for teaching assistants, except postsecondary in Vermont the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $29,140 to $51,580. 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 $36,162 from $43,800. 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 398 of 453 locally.
  • This $37,422 adjusted figure, worked from $43,800, 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 398 of 453 in the state. The occupation ranks 398 of 453 locally.

Questions people ask

Is this the average pay for the job?

Half earn more than this and half earn less. The average sits at $42,040 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.

How much does pay for this job actually vary?

Less than you might expect. The bottom tenth earn $29,140 and the top tenth $51,580, so most people doing this work in Vermont sit within a fairly tight band.

What does this pay actually buy where I live?

Further than the number implies. Vermont is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $37,422 in national terms.

Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?

Four deductions, stacked. The federal layer and the two payroll taxes apply wherever you work; Vermont then takes its own share, leaving $36,162.

Can I compare this job across every state?

All 51 jurisdictions report this work, which makes the ranking a like-for-like 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 $42,040. 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 ($29,140 to $51,580) 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 $37,422 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 $36,162 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.

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.