What Secondary School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education earn in Pierce County, WA
The median pay for Secondary School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education in Pierce County, WA is $102,670 per year, which works out to $49.36 per hour. The figure comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics wage survey for the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA metropolitan area, the labor market that Pierce County, WA 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 $101,680, which is 1.0% below the median, so pay is spread fairly evenly. The survey counts about 7,720 people working in this occupation across the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA metropolitan area, so the estimate rests on a substantial pool of workers. Pierce County, WA has roughly 930,319 residents, according to the population figures used by the rent data.
The salary range, from entry level to top earners
Pay for Secondary School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education in the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA metropolitan area is not one number. The lowest-paid tenth of workers earn up to $61,140 a year ($29.39 an hour), while the highest-paid tenth earn $132,300 or more ($63.61 an hour). That is a gap of $71,160 between the bottom and the top of the scale. The middle half of workers falls between $82,360 at the 25th percentile and $127,290 at the 75th percentile. A top-tier earner makes 2.2 times what someone at the bottom makes, so experience, certification and employer all matter.
What the hourly rate looks like
Employers quote this occupation by the hour or by the year, so here are both: $49.36 an hour or $102,670 a year at the median for Pierce County, WA. Before any deductions, that is $8,556 a month, $3,949 every two weeks and $1,974 each week. After taxes the same job pays $38.84 per hour of take-home income, which is the number that actually has to cover rent and groceries.
About this occupation: Secondary School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education
The U.S. Department of Labor's O*NET database describes the work of Secondary School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education this way: "Teach one or more subjects to students at the secondary school level."
Core tasks recorded by O*NET include: "Establish and enforce rules for behavior and procedures for maintaining order among students"; "Instruct through lectures, discussions, and demonstrations in one or more subjects, such as English, mathematics, or social studies"; "Establish clear objectives for all lessons, units, and projects, and communicate those objectives to students"; "Prepare, administer, and grade tests and assignments to evaluate students' progress".
Job outlook for Secondary School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education
The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects national employment in this occupation to shrink from 1,087,500 jobs in 2025 to 1,085,000 in 2035, a change of -0.2%, slower than the 3.5% projected for all occupations. The projection counts 63,500 openings a year on average, including positions created by growth and positions left by workers who retire or move to another occupation; that equals 5.8% of current employment each year.
Typical entry-level education: bachelor's degree. BLS lists a national median annual wage of $72,040 for this occupation; the Pierce County, WA median of $102,670 is 42.5% above it.
How pay in Pierce County, WA compares
Compared with the Washington average
A worker in this occupation in Pierce County, WA earns $6,295 more than the Washington average of $96,375, a premium of 6.5%. Over a year that premium is worth $6,295 before tax and roughly $4,953 after tax. Within Washington, Pierce County, WA already has the highest median we track for this job.
Compared with the national average
The national employment-weighted average for Secondary School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education is $75,178 across the contiguous United States. At $102,670, Pierce County, WA pays $27,492 more, which is 36.6% 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 Pierce County, WA
Among the 612 occupations with published wages in Pierce County, WA, Secondary School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education ranks number 176 by median pay, ahead of about 71% of them. The best-paying occupation we track here is Computer and Information Systems Managers at $214,680 a year, which is $112,010 more than the median for Secondary School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education.
From gross pay to take-home pay
Three separate tax bills sit between the gross salary and the bank account: federal income tax, FICA, and state income tax. For Secondary School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education earning the Pierce County, WA median of $102,670, they add up to $21,891. The result is $80,779 of take-home pay a year ($6,732 a month), based on a single filer using the standard deduction.
Put another way, of every $100 earned, about $21 goes to taxes and $79 reaches the paycheck. The overall effective tax rate is 21.3%.
Federal income tax
After the $15,750 standard deduction, taxable income is $86,920. 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 22% bracket. The resulting federal income tax is $14,036, an effective 13.7% of gross pay, well below the 22% 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 $6,366 on this salary. Medicare takes 1.45%, or $1,489. FICA totals $7,854, which is 7.7% of gross pay.
State income tax in Washington
Washington does not tax wage income, so the state income tax line for Secondary School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education in Pierce County, WA is $0. That alone leaves more in the paycheck than the same salary would in a state with an income tax. For scale, a hypothetical flat 5% state tax on this salary would cost about $5,134 a year, so the absence of a state tax is worth roughly $428 a month.
A cross-check with IRS data for Pierce County, WA
IRS Statistics of Income data for Pierce County, WA show an average adjusted gross income of $94,511 per return and an average effective federal income tax rate of 12.9% across all filers. Filers in the $100,000 to under $200,000 bracket, where this salary falls, paid an average of 11.2%, compared with the 13.7% 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 Pierce County, WA
Take-home pay only means something next to what life costs. We price four basics for one adult in Pierce County, WA: a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline. All of them are converted to annual figures first, then compared with the $80,779 of take-home pay.
Rent
Housing is the largest line in most budgets. For Pierce County, WA, HUD sets the Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom unit at $1,682 a month ($20,184 a year), and at $2,064 for two bedrooms. For Secondary School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education, a one-bedroom absorbs 25.0% of take-home pay and 19.7% 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 3.3% of gross pay for Secondary School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education in Pierce County, WA. It is a thrifty budget with no restaurant meals, so treat it as a floor.
Energy and gasoline
Using Washington residential prices from the Energy Information Administration and national household averages for consumption, electricity costs about $1,257 a year and other home energy such as natural gas about $475, for $1,732 in total. Gasoline in Washington averages $4.07 per gallon; at about 463 gallons a year (11,106 miles at 24 miles per gallon) fuel adds $1,883.
What is left over
Rent, food, energy and gasoline cost $27,234 a year in Pierce County, WA. Subtract that from $80,779 of take-home pay and $53,545 remains, which is $4,462 a month of breathing room. That margin equals 52.2% of gross pay, a comfortable cushion by common budgeting rules.
Local housing and commute data for Pierce County, WA
The budget above covers rent, food, energy and gasoline. Three more local facts shape what a paycheck buys in Pierce County, WA: 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 Pierce County, WA, set beside the Washington and national medians.
Property taxes in Pierce County, WA
Homeowners in Pierce County, WA pay a median of $4,770 a year in real estate taxes, 5% above the Washington median of $4,556 and 53% above the U.S. median of $3,119. Against a median home value of $526,600, the median tax bill is 0.91% of that value (the ratio of the two county medians). For a worker paid the local Secondary School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education median of $102,670, a tax bill of that size would equal 4.6% of gross pay, which matters for anyone planning to buy rather than rent.
Rents, home prices and household income in Pierce County, WA
Renters in Pierce County, WA pay a median gross rent of $1,806 a month in the Census survey, 3% above the Washington median of $1,760. HUD's Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom apartment, which this site uses in the budget, is $1,682 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 $526,600, 7% below the Washington median of $564,600. Median household income is $99,564, 1% above the Washington median of $98,141, so a year of one-bedroom Fair Market Rent equals 20.3% of that income.
Commuting in Pierce County, WA
Workers in Pierce County, WA who travel to a workplace spend an average of 31.3 minutes each way, 18% above the Washington average of 26.6. For someone who commutes five days a week, that is 5.2 hours of round-trip travel every week, a cost the budget does not price. 13.9% of workers in Pierce County, WA work from home, compared with 15.1% nationally, which removes the commute for them.
Can Secondary School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education afford to live in Pierce County, WA?
The 30% rent guideline
A common rule of thumb says rent should stay under 30% of gross income. For a gross salary of $102,670 that ceiling is $2,567 a month. The one-bedroom Fair Market Rent of $1,682 is $885 under it, so rent fits the guideline. Put as a wage, covering a one-bedroom at the 30% guideline takes $32.35 an hour; the median for Secondary School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education is $49.36, which is 53% above that mark. Another way to see it: at $38.84 of take-home pay an hour, a one-bedroom takes about 10.0 working hours every week.
Splitting a two-bedroom
Sharing a two-bedroom at $2,064 a month means $1,032 each. Compared with renting a one-bedroom alone, that saves $7,800 a year. With a roommate, the yearly margin after the basics becomes $61,345.
How fast you can save
At $4,462 a month of margin, building a $10,000 emergency fund would take about 3 months. Setting aside half of the margin stretches the same goal to about 6 months. These figures ignore interest, raises and any spending beyond the four basics.
Frequently asked questions about Secondary School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education pay in Pierce County, WA
How much do Secondary School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education make per hour in Pierce County, WA?
The median is $49.36 per hour, based on $102,670 a year over 2,080 hours. Hourly pay runs from about $29.39 at the 10th percentile to $63.61 at the 90th percentile.
How much do Secondary School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education take home after taxes in Pierce County, WA?
After federal income tax, FICA, the median salary of $102,670 becomes $80,779 a year. That is $6,732 a month, $3,107 every two weeks or $1,553 a week.
How much tax do Secondary School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education pay in Pierce County, WA?
Total taxes are $21,891 a year, an effective rate of 21.3%: $14,036 federal income tax, $7,854 FICA and no Washington income tax.
Do Secondary School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education earn more in Pierce County, WA than elsewhere in Washington?
Yes. The local median of $102,670 is +6.5% versus the Washington average of $96,375, a difference of $6,295 a year.
Can Secondary School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education afford a one-bedroom apartment in Pierce County, WA?
A one-bedroom costs $1,682 a month against take-home pay of $6,732, which is 25.0% of take-home pay. That meets the 30%-of-gross guideline, which allows up to $2,567 a month.
What is the monthly budget margin for Secondary School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education in Pierce County, WA?
About $4,462 a month ($53,545 a year) remains after a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline, which together cost $27,234 a year.
What hourly wage covers a one-bedroom in Pierce County, WA at the 30% guideline?
$32.35 an hour for a full-time schedule, calculated as the $20,184 annual rent divided by 0.30 and by 2,080 hours. The median for Secondary School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education is $49.36.
How we calculated these numbers
Wages are May 2025 medians from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey for the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA 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 Washington 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.