Teaching Assistants, Postsecondary in Pennsylvania
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$31,562
after federal, FICA and Pennsylvania tax
Tax takes
$6,458
17.0% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$32,371
Pennsylvania costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Pennsylvania — 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
$38,020
Kept after tax
$31,562
Worth in national money
$32,371
State rank
31
of 45 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pennsylvania is among the lower-paying states for this job. The middle earner takes $38,020, ranking 31 of 45 states — about 11.4% below the national middle. Costs here are often lower too, which the figures further down account for.
- Measured against other jobs in Pennsylvania, this one sits low: 428 of 492 occupations with published pay, in the bottom quarter.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $38,020, tax leaves $31,562, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $32,371 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $40,440, since top earners drag the number up.
- Pennsylvania ranks 31 of 45 for teaching assistants, postsecondary, with a median of $38,020 — about 11.4% below the national figure. A nominal shortfall is not by itself a real one: lower-paying states frequently carry lower tax and lower price levels, and the adjusted figures below are where that is settled rather than assumed.
- Teaching assistants, postsecondary occupies position 428 of 492 in Pennsylvania's occupational wage distribution, in the bottom quartile. National ranking and local ranking answer different questions and frequently disagree; this is the one a resident experiences.
- Because Pennsylvania sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for teaching assistants, postsecondary — median $38,020 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $31,562 retained, $32,371 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $40,440 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 | $21,060 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $38,020 |
| Top tenth earn over | $60,130 |
| This salary | $38,020 |
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 Pennsylvania | $31,562 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $32,729 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$1,309 |
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 | $36,567 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$1,584 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 98 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Pennsylvania earn less than $38,020. The published range is $21,060 up to $60,130, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- That $31,562 take-home in Pennsylvania comes from $38,020. It is the no-frills case: single filer, standard deduction, nothing set aside before tax. Real circumstances almost always reduce the tax. City and school-district taxes are not counted at all. Locally the work ranks 428 of 492.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $32,371 uses one figure for the whole of Pennsylvania. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 492 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 428.
- Reported values are medians; for teaching assistants, postsecondary in Pennsylvania the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $21,060 to $60,130. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- Retained pay of $31,562, from $38,020, assumes a single Pennsylvania filer with the standard deduction and no elective deferrals. Pre-tax retirement or HSA contributions, dependants and itemized deductions all reduce it further; local income taxes, excluded here, would increase it in the states that levy them. This occupation ranks 428 of 492 locally, and the state ranks 31 of 45 for it.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $32,371, worked from $38,020, deflates by a statewide parity that conceals substantial intra-state variation, concentrated in housing — so it supports comparison between states rather than the pricing of a move to a particular Pennsylvania address, on work sitting at 428 of 492 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $40,440, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
One title, many jobs. The lowest tenth take $21,060, the highest tenth $60,130, and what separates them is experience, employer and what exactly the role does.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Pennsylvania is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $32,371 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 Pennsylvania's own levy, $31,562 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
Because the survey suppresses a figure when too few employers report it. This occupation has published pay in 45 states — the rest are withheld to protect confidentiality, which is not the same as nobody doing the work there.
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 Pennsylvania is $40,440. 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 ($21,060) and the ninetieth ($60,130) 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?
Pennsylvania'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 $32,371 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 $31,562 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Pennsylvania 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.