Pennsylvania · BLS May 2025

How much does a high school teacher make in Pennsylvania?

Also called secondary school teacher. BLS records this occupation as Secondary School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education” (SOC 25-2031).

A high school teacher in Pennsylvania earns a median of $78,800 a year, about $5,154 a month after federal, state and FICA tax. Figure from the BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey. The survey counted 52,240 of these jobs in Pennsylvania in May 2025.

Median pay · Pennsylvania

$78,800A year. BLS publishes no hourly wage for this occupation.
Take-home a month$5,154After federal, state and FICA tax at 21.5%
Worth at national prices$80,761Prices here sit at 97.6 against 100
Against the nation9.4% aboveNational median $72,040
What secondary school teachers earn in Pennsylvania, May 2025
PercentileAnnualHourly
10th percentile1 in 10 earn less$51,440Not published
25th percentile$61,750Not published
MedianHalf earn more, half less$78,800Not published
75th percentile$92,980Not published
90th percentile1 in 10 earn more$102,360Not published
MeanAll pay divided by all jobs$77,650Not published

Wage survey · BLS May 2025

How we got this
  1. Median wage in PennsylvaniaBLS OEWS May 2025. Half of the people in this job were paid more than this, half less.$78,800
  2. Take-home after federal, state and FICA tax$5,154 a month at an effective rate of 21.5%.$61,847 a year
  3. Worth at national average pricesPrices in Pennsylvania sit at 97.6 against a national 100 (BEA, 2024).$80,761
  4. Against the national medianThe national median is $72,040.9.4% above
  5. Jobs countedA concentration of 1.26 against the nation's 1.00.52,240
What we assumed
  • Wages are BLS OEWS survey estimates for May 2025, not job postings or offers.
  • OEWS surveys wage and salary workers. The self-employed and business owners are outside it.
  • Take-home assumes one 2026 filer, filing single, taking the standard deduction, with no dependents, pre-tax retirement contributions or local income tax.
  • BLS publishes only an annual wage for this occupation, because a standard 2,080-hour year would misdescribe it.
  • Regional price parities compare price levels between places in one year. They are not inflation, and they do not adjust for what a household actually buys.
Technical details

Method occupation-wage-v1Data bls-oews-2025-05-v1, us-tax-2026-v1, bea-rpp-2024-v1, census-acs5-2024-v1

What lands in the bank

Tax year 2026 · Interactive

Estimated on the median salary of $78,800 in Pennsylvania, for a single filer taking the standard deduction in 2026. Explore other wage levels and filing statuses below.

$78,800
$50,000$105,000
Filing status:
Gross salary breakdown$78,800
Net 78%
Fed 11%
PA 3%
FICA 8%
Annual take-home$61,847After all taxes
Monthly deposit$5,154Estimated per month
Biweekly paycheck$2,379Every 2 weeks (26/yr)
Effective tax rate21.5%Total tax burden
Federal income tax$8,506 / yr
Pennsylvania state income tax$2,419 / yr
FICA (Social Security & Medicare)$6,028 / yr

Run the numbers on your own pay

Same U.S. tax tables as the rest of the site. Change the salary, state, or filing status.

What $78,800 is worth in Pennsylvania

Prices in Pennsylvania sit at 97.6 against a national average of 100, so $78,800 earned here buys what $80,761 buys at national average prices.

  • Rents. 85.1 against 100, the component that moves most between states.
  • Against local households. The median household in Pennsylvania takes in $77,971, so this occupation's median is 1.01 times that, on one income.
  • How common the job is here. 26% more concentrated in Pennsylvania than in the country as a whole.

Compare two places properly →

Reading the numbers

What stands out for high school teachers in Pennsylvania

Rents in Pennsylvania index at 85.1 (U.S. = 100) while prices overall index at 97.6, a gap of -12.5 pts. For a renter, housing moves the local cost of living more than anything else.

Even the lowest-paid 10% of high school teachers in Pennsylvania make at least $51,440 a year.

Common questions

High School Teacher pay in Pennsylvania, answered

How much does a high school teacher make in Pennsylvania?

The median wage for high school teachers in Pennsylvania is $78,800 a year.

Half earn more than that and half earn less. The figure comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics occupational wage survey for May 2025.

What is the average high school teacher salary in Pennsylvania?

BLS’s mean (average) wage for high school teachers in Pennsylvania is $77,650 a year. The median is $78,800.

The mean sits higher when a smaller group of high earners pulls the average up. For a typical paycheck, the median is the better middle.

What is the starting salary for a high school teacher in Pennsylvania?

BLS does not publish starting pay. The closest figure it does publish is the low end of the range: in Pennsylvania, the lowest-paid 10% of high school teachers earn under $51,440 a year and a quarter earn under $61,750.

New hires often start somewhere in that band, but the May 2025 survey does not record experience, so read it as a floor to compare an offer against rather than a typical first salary.

What is the salary range for a high school teacher in Pennsylvania?

The overall salary range for high school teachers in Pennsylvania spans from $51,440 for the bottom 10% to $102,360 for top earners.

The middle 50% earn between $61,750 and $92,980 a year, with the overall median at $78,800.

What is the take-home pay for a high school teacher in Pennsylvania?

On the median wage of $78,800, a single filer taking the 2026 standard deduction keeps an estimated $61,847 a year, or roughly $5,154 a month.

That is after federal, state and FICA tax, an effective rate of 21.5%.

Pennsylvania takes $2,419 of it in state income tax.

How much does a high school teacher make a month in Pennsylvania?

On the median annual salary of $78,800, estimated take-home pay is roughly $5,154 a month after federal, state, and FICA taxes.

For workers paid on a standard biweekly schedule (26 pay periods per year), each paycheck is approximately $2,379 net.

Do high school teachers earn more in Pennsylvania than in the rest of the country?

Yes. The median in Pennsylvania is 9.4% above the national median of $72,040.

Nominal pay is only half the comparison: prices in Pennsylvania sit at 97.6 against a national 100, so the gap in what the money buys is different from the gap in the salary.

Is $78,800 a good salary in Pennsylvania?

It is 1.01 times the median household income of $77,971. A household often has more than one earner, so a single salary at this level goes further than the ratio alone suggests.

Prices in Pennsylvania run at 97.6 against a national average of 100, with rents at 85.1, so $78,800 here buys about what $80,761 buys at national average prices.

What do the highest-paid high school teachers earn in Pennsylvania?

The top tenth earn $102,360 a year or more. The 10th-percentile wage is $51,440.

Experience, specialty, employer and the part of Pennsylvania someone works in all move a wage inside that range; the survey reports the spread, not the reason for it.

How many high school teachers are there in Pennsylvania?

The survey counted 52,240 of these jobs in Pennsylvania for May 2025.

That makes the occupation 26% more concentrated here than in the country as a whole. It counts wage and salary jobs, so the self-employed are outside it.

Sources

Where this data comes from

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