What Education Administrators, Kindergarten through Secondary earn in Cecil County, MD
The median pay for Education Administrators, Kindergarten through Secondary in Cecil County, MD is $129,130 per year, which works out to $62.08 per hour. The figure comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics wage survey for the Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD metropolitan area, the labor market that Cecil County, MD belongs to. Half of the workers in this occupation earn more than the median and half earn less, which makes it a sturdier yardstick than an average that a few very high earners can pull upward.
The mean wage is $128,820, which is 0.2% below the median, so pay is spread fairly evenly. The survey counts about 7,890 people working in this occupation across the Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD metropolitan area, so the estimate rests on a substantial pool of workers. Cecil County, MD has roughly 104,960 residents, according to the population figures used by the rent data.
The salary range, from entry level to top earners
Pay for Education Administrators, Kindergarten through Secondary in the Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD metropolitan area is not one number. The lowest-paid tenth of workers earn up to $83,500 a year ($40.14 an hour), while the highest-paid tenth earn $165,800 or more ($79.71 an hour). That is a gap of $82,300 between the bottom and the top of the scale. The middle half of workers falls between $104,630 at the 25th percentile and $153,340 at the 75th percentile. A top-tier earner makes 2.0 times what someone at the bottom makes, so experience, certification and employer all matter.
What the hourly rate looks like
Converted to an hourly wage, the median for Education Administrators, Kindergarten through Secondary in Cecil County, MD is $62.08. A full-time schedule of 40 hours for 52 weeks adds up to $129,130, and the same salary is $10,761 a month before taxes or about $4,967 per biweekly pay period. After taxes the same job pays $44.87 per hour of take-home income, which is the number that actually has to cover rent and groceries.
About this occupation: Education Administrators, Kindergarten through Secondary
The U.S. Department of Labor's O*NET database describes the work of Education Administrators, Kindergarten through Secondary this way: "Plan, direct, or coordinate the academic, administrative, or auxiliary activities of kindergarten, elementary, or secondary schools."
Core tasks recorded by O*NET include: "Review and approve new programs, or recommend modifications to existing programs, submitting program proposals for school board approval as necessary"; "Prepare, maintain, or oversee the preparation and maintenance of attendance, activity, planning, or personnel reports and records"; "Confer with parents and staff to discuss educational activities, policies, and student behavior or learning problems"; "Prepare and submit budget requests and recommendations, or grant proposals to solicit program funding".
Job outlook for Education Administrators, Kindergarten through Secondary
The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects national employment in this occupation to shrink from 343,800 jobs in 2025 to 342,700 in 2035, a change of -0.3%, slower than the 3.5% projected for all occupations. The projection counts 20,600 openings a year on average, including positions created by growth and positions left by workers who retire or move to another occupation; that equals 6.0% of current employment each year.
Typical entry-level education: master's degree. Work experience in a related occupation: 5 years or more. BLS lists a national median annual wage of $105,870 for this occupation; the Cecil County, MD median of $129,130 is 22.0% above it.
How pay in Cecil County, MD compares
Compared with the Maryland average
The local median of $129,130 sits below the Maryland employment-weighted average of $131,128. The shortfall is $1,998 a year, or 1.5%, so Cecil County, MD is a lower-paying market for this job than the state as a whole. Within Maryland, the highest median we track for this job is $134,490 in Montgomery County, MD.
Compared with the national average
The national employment-weighted average for Education Administrators, Kindergarten through Secondary is $115,955 across the contiguous United States. At $129,130, Cecil County, MD pays $13,175 more, which is 11.4% above that benchmark. Keep in mind that a higher salary only helps if living costs do not rise faster, which is why the cost sections below matter as much as the headline number.
Where this job ranks in Cecil County, MD
Among the 636 occupations with published wages in Cecil County, MD, Education Administrators, Kindergarten through Secondary ranks number 49 by median pay, ahead of about 92% of them. The best-paying occupation we track here is Computer and Information Systems Managers at $173,470 a year, which is $44,340 more than the median for Education Administrators, Kindergarten through Secondary.
From gross pay to take-home pay
A salary of $129,130 does not arrive in full. We model a single filer with wage income only, the standard deduction and tax-year 2025 rules, and we keep the three tax layers apart: federal income tax, FICA (Social Security and Medicare) and state income tax. Together they take $35,796 a year, which leaves $93,334, or $7,778 a month.
Put another way, of every $100 earned, about $28 goes to taxes and $72 reaches the paycheck. The overall effective tax rate is 27.7%.
Federal income tax
After the $15,750 standard deduction, taxable income is $113,380. Federal brackets are marginal, so only the slice of income above each threshold is taxed at the higher rate; the last dollars of this salary fall in the 24% bracket. The resulting federal income tax is $20,058, an effective 15.5% of gross pay, well below the 24% marginal rate because the lower brackets are cheaper.
Social Security and Medicare (FICA)
Payroll taxes are a flat percentage of wages. Social Security takes 6.2% up to a wage base of $176,100, which costs $8,006 on this salary. Medicare takes 1.45%, or $1,872. FICA totals $9,878, which is 7.6% of gross pay.
State income tax in Maryland
Maryland income tax on this salary is $5,859 a year, or 4.5% of gross pay, after the state's own deductions and exemptions are applied. That is 29% of the federal income tax bill, and it comes out to $488 a month. Local taxes such as county or city income taxes are not included, so a few jurisdictions may withhold slightly more.
A cross-check with IRS data for Cecil County, MD
IRS Statistics of Income data for Cecil County, MD show an average adjusted gross income of $82,771 per return and an average effective federal income tax rate of 12.3% across all filers. Filers in the $100,000 to under $200,000 bracket, where this salary falls, paid an average of 11.0%, compared with the 15.5% estimated here for a single filer taking the standard deduction. Gaps between the two reflect filing status, dependents, credits and other income, none of which a single-person wage estimate includes.
Cost of living in Cecil County, MD
Take-home pay only means something next to what life costs. We price four basics for one adult in Cecil County, MD: a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline. All of them are converted to annual figures first, then compared with the $93,334 of take-home pay.
Rent
The HUD Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Cecil County, MD is $1,558 a month, or $18,696 a year. A two-bedroom costs $1,860 a month. For Education Administrators, Kindergarten through Secondary, a one-bedroom absorbs 20.0% of take-home pay and 14.5% of gross pay.
Food
The USDA Thrifty Food Plan (August 2026) puts the cost of a nutritious home-cooked diet for an adult at about $3,436 a year, which is $286 a month or $66.07 a week. That equals 2.7% of gross pay for Education Administrators, Kindergarten through Secondary in Cecil County, MD. It is a thrifty budget with no restaurant meals, so treat it as a floor.
Energy and gasoline
Using Maryland residential prices from the Energy Information Administration and national household averages for consumption, electricity costs about $1,887 a year and other home energy such as natural gas about $634, for $2,521 in total. Gasoline in Maryland averages $3.33 per gallon; at about 463 gallons a year (11,106 miles at 24 miles per gallon) fuel adds $1,539.
What is left over
Add the four basics together and living costs come to $26,192 a year, 28% of take-home pay. That leaves $67,143 a year, or $5,595 a month, for savings, transportation beyond fuel, health care, debt and everything else. That margin equals 52.0% of gross pay, a comfortable cushion by common budgeting rules.
Local housing and commute data for Cecil County, MD
The budget above covers rent, food, energy and gasoline. Three more local facts shape what a paycheck buys in Cecil County, MD: property taxes, housing prices and the daily commute. The figures below are exact U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 2020-2024 5-year estimates for Cecil County, MD, set beside the Maryland and national medians.
Property taxes in Cecil County, MD
Homeowners in Cecil County, MD pay a median of $3,068 a year in real estate taxes, 25% below the Maryland median of $4,093 and 2% below the U.S. median of $3,119. Against a median home value of $343,400, the median tax bill is 0.89% of that value (the ratio of the two county medians). For a worker paid the local Education Administrators, Kindergarten through Secondary median of $129,130, a tax bill of that size would equal 2.4% of gross pay, which matters for anyone planning to buy rather than rent.
Rents, home prices and household income in Cecil County, MD
Renters in Cecil County, MD pay a median gross rent of $1,377 a month in the Census survey, 19% below the Maryland median of $1,705. HUD's Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom apartment, which this site uses in the budget, is $1,558 a month; the two measures differ because the Census figure covers units of every size that renters already occupy, while the HUD figure is a one-bedroom benchmark. The median value of an owner-occupied home is $343,400, 18% below the Maryland median of $419,900. Median household income is $92,007, 11% below the Maryland median of $103,678, so a year of one-bedroom Fair Market Rent equals 20.3% of that income.
Commuting in Cecil County, MD
Workers in Cecil County, MD who travel to a workplace spend an average of 28.5 minutes each way, 8% below the Maryland average of 31.1. For someone who commutes five days a week, that is 4.8 hours of round-trip travel every week, a cost the budget does not price. 12.4% of workers in Cecil County, MD work from home, compared with 15.1% nationally, which removes the commute for them.
Can Education Administrators, Kindergarten through Secondary afford to live in Cecil County, MD?
The 30% rent guideline
A common rule of thumb says rent should stay under 30% of gross income. For a gross salary of $129,130 that ceiling is $3,228 a month. The one-bedroom Fair Market Rent of $1,558 is $1,670 under it, so rent fits the guideline. Put as a wage, covering a one-bedroom at the 30% guideline takes $29.96 an hour; the median for Education Administrators, Kindergarten through Secondary is $62.08, which is 107% above that mark. Another way to see it: at $44.87 of take-home pay an hour, a one-bedroom takes about 8.0 working hours every week.
Splitting a two-bedroom
Sharing a two-bedroom at $1,860 a month means $930 each. Compared with renting a one-bedroom alone, that saves $7,536 a year. With a roommate, the yearly margin after the basics becomes $74,679.
How fast you can save
At $5,595 a month of margin, building a $10,000 emergency fund would take about 2 months. Setting aside half of the margin stretches the same goal to about 4 months. These figures ignore interest, raises and any spending beyond the four basics.
Frequently asked questions about Education Administrators, Kindergarten through Secondary pay in Cecil County, MD
What is the hourly wage for Education Administrators, Kindergarten through Secondary in Cecil County, MD?
The median is $62.08 per hour, based on $129,130 a year over 2,080 hours. Hourly pay runs from about $40.14 at the 10th percentile to $79.71 at the 90th percentile.
What is the take-home pay for Education Administrators, Kindergarten through Secondary in Cecil County, MD?
After federal income tax, FICA and state income tax, the median salary of $129,130 becomes $93,334 a year. That is $7,778 a month, $3,590 every two weeks or $1,795 a week.
What percentage of pay goes to taxes for Education Administrators, Kindergarten through Secondary in Cecil County, MD?
Total taxes are $35,796 a year, an effective rate of 27.7%: $20,058 federal income tax, $9,878 FICA and $5,859 Maryland income tax.
Is pay for Education Administrators, Kindergarten through Secondary in Cecil County, MD above the Maryland average?
No. The local median of $129,130 is -1.5% versus the Maryland average of $131,128, a difference of $1,998 a year.
Is a one-bedroom rent affordable on the median Education Administrators, Kindergarten through Secondary salary in Cecil County, MD?
A one-bedroom costs $1,558 a month against take-home pay of $7,778, which is 20.0% of take-home pay. That meets the 30%-of-gross guideline, which allows up to $3,228 a month.
How much is left after rent, food and energy for Education Administrators, Kindergarten through Secondary in Cecil County, MD?
About $5,595 a month ($67,143 a year) remains after a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline, which together cost $26,192 a year.
What hourly wage covers a one-bedroom in Cecil County, MD at the 30% guideline?
$29.96 an hour for a full-time schedule, calculated as the $18,696 annual rent divided by 0.30 and by 2,080 hours. The median for Education Administrators, Kindergarten through Secondary is $62.08.
How we calculated these numbers
Wages are May 2025 medians from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey for the Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD metropolitan area; hourly-only values are annualized at 2,080 hours. Rents are HUD Fair Market Rents, food costs come from the USDA Thrifty Food Plan, and energy prices come from the Energy Information Administration. County-level tax statistics come from the IRS Statistics of Income.
Taxes use tax-year 2025 federal brackets, FICA rates and the Maryland rules for a single filer with wage income only. Figures are estimates for planning and comparison, not tax or financial advice, and they exclude local income taxes, benefits, retirement contributions and individual circumstances.