Pennsylvania · BLS May 2025
Also called teacher aide, paraprofessional. BLS records this occupation as “Teaching Assistants, Except Postsecondary” (SOC 25-9045).
The Bureau of Labor Statistics counted 48,310 teaching assistants working in Pennsylvania. Here is what they are paid, what the median leaves after federal, state and FICA tax, and what that is worth against local prices.
Median pay · Pennsylvania
$34,740A year. BLS publishes no hourly wage for this occupation.| Percentile | Annual | Hourly |
|---|---|---|
| 10th percentileEntry and lowest-paid | $23,380 | Not published |
| 25th percentile | $29,090 | Not published |
| MedianHalf earn more, half less | $34,740 | Not published |
| 75th percentile | $37,500 | Not published |
| 90th percentileMost experienced and senior | $45,980 | Not published |
| MeanThe average, pulled up by the top | $34,360 | Not published |
Method occupation-wage-v1Data bls-oews-2025-05-v1, us-tax-2026-v1, bea-rpp-2024-v1, census-acs5-2024-v1
A $34,740 salary in Pennsylvania, for one single filer taking the standard deduction in 2026.
Prices in Pennsylvania sit at 97.6 against a national average of 100, so $34,740 earned here buys what $35,604 buys at national average prices.
Common questions
The median wage for teaching assistants in Pennsylvania is $34,740 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.
On the median wage of $34,740, one filer taking the standard deduction keeps about $29,027 a year, or roughly $2,419 a month.
That is after federal, state and FICA tax, an effective rate of 16.4%.
Pennsylvania takes $1,067 of it in state income tax.
No. The median in Pennsylvania is 5.5% below the national median of $36,780.
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.
It is 0.45 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 $34,740 here buys about what $35,604 buys at national average prices.
The top tenth earn $45,980 a year or more, against $23,380 at the bottom tenth.
Experience, specialism, 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.
The survey counted 48,310 of these jobs in Pennsylvania for May 2025.
That makes the occupation 13% less concentrated here than in the country as a whole. It counts wage and salary jobs, so the self-employed are outside it.
Sources