Tutors in Pennsylvania
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$30,209
after federal, FICA and Pennsylvania tax
Tax takes
$6,061
16.7% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$30,984
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
$36,270
Kept after tax
$30,209
Worth in national money
$30,984
State rank
37
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Pay for tutors is on the low side in Pennsylvania. The middle earner gets $36,270. That is 37 of 50 states, and about 16.33% under the national figure. Whether that matters depends on what things cost here.
- Against 492 occupations Pennsylvania publishes, tutors lands at 450. That is the lower quarter. That is the comparison people actually feel, more than any national table.
- Cost of living is unremarkable here. From $36,270, tax leaves $30,209, and adjusting for local prices barely moves it — about $30,984 in comparable terms. Averages run higher here, $44,140, since top earners drag the number up.
- For tutors, Pennsylvania sits in the lower band at $36,270, ranking 37 of 50 and trailing the national median by about 16.33%. Nominal rankings routinely invert once tax and regional price level are applied, so this position should not be read as the conclusion.
- Within Pennsylvania, this work ranks 450 of 492 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 Pennsylvania sits close to the national price level, the real-terms figure for tutors — median $36,270 — tracks the post-tax figure closely: $30,209 retained, $30,984 adjusted. ⚠️ Neither is a wage; the second describes what the first buys. Mean pay of $44,140 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Tutors
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $23,670 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $36,270 |
| Top tenth earn over | $75,870 |
| This salary | $36,270 |
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 | $30,209 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $31,323 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$1,249 |
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 | $34,884 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$1,511 |
| 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 $36,270. The published range is $23,670 up to $75,870, 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 Pennsylvania's $30,209, worked from $36,270. 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 450 of 492.
- Two cautions on $30,984, the adjusted value of that $36,270 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Pennsylvania. 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 450 of 492 locally.
- Reported values are medians; for tutors in Pennsylvania the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $23,670 to $75,870. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The Pennsylvania take-home of $30,209, on $36,270 for work ranking 450 of 492 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 450 of 492 in the state.
- This $30,984 adjusted figure, worked from $36,270, 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 450 of 492 in the state. The occupation ranks 450 of 492 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 $44,140 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?
The label is broader than the work. From $23,670 at the bottom tenth to $75,870 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
A smaller wage in a cheaper place is not automatically less. Adjusted for local prices, this is worth $30,984.
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 Pennsylvania adds its own income tax on top — which is why $30,209 of this wage survives to your account.
Why is this job missing from some states?
The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 50 states here, and a missing state means too few reports, not no jobs.
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 $44,140. 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 ($23,670) and the ninetieth ($75,870) 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 $30,984 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 $30,209 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 50 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.