Teaching Assistants, Postsecondary in North Carolina
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$40,907
after federal, FICA and North Carolina tax
Tax takes
$9,143
18.3% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$43,454
North Carolina costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in North Carolina — 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
$50,050
Kept after tax
$40,907
Worth in national money
$43,454
State rank
8
of 45 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- North Carolina is one of the better-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $50,050, which ranks 8 of 45 states with published figures. That is about 16.64% above the national middle.
- Ordinary, locally speaking. This job ranks 279 among 489 occupations North Carolina publishes pay for.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $50,050 you keep $40,907 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $43,454 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $51,580, since top earners drag the number up.
- North Carolina ranks 8 of 45 states publishing a median for teaching assistants, postsecondary, at $50,050 — about 16.64% 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.
- Position 279 of 489 in North Carolina places teaching assistants, postsecondary in the middle of the state's wage distribution. Because within-state and cross-state rankings measure different things, this figure and the national one above should be read together rather than as a single verdict.
- Retained pay in North Carolina is $40,907 after the full tax stack, from $50,050. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $43,454 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $51,580 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Teaching Assistants, Postsecondary
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $33,130 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $50,050 |
| Top tenth earn over | $73,980 |
| This salary | $50,050 |
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 North Carolina | $40,907 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $42,395 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$174 |
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 | $48,198 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$210 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 94 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in North Carolina earn less than $50,050. The published range is $33,130 up to $73,980, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind North Carolina's $40,907, worked from $50,050. 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 279 of 489.
- One number stands for prices across all of North Carolina, which is a simplification — big cities cost far more than small towns. Read $43,454, the adjusted value of that $50,050 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 279 of 489 in the state.
- Reported values are medians; for teaching assistants, postsecondary in North Carolina the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $33,130 to $73,980. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The North Carolina take-home of $40,907, on $50,050 for work ranking 279 of 489 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 279 of 489 in the state.
- Price deflation uses one statewide parity for North Carolina, so $43,454 — the adjusted value of that $50,050 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 279 of 489 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 $51,580 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
Because one job title covers very different work. The bottom tenth here earn $33,130 and the top tenth $73,980 — experience, employer and specialism separate them, and a single figure hides all three.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. North Carolina is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $43,454 in national terms.
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 North Carolina's own levy, $40,907 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 45 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 North Carolina is $51,580. 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 ($33,130) and the ninetieth ($73,980) 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.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
North Carolina'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 $43,454 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 $40,907 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and North Carolina 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 45 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.