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Salary data from BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics

Special Education Teachers, All Other Salary: Pennsylvania vs New Mexico

Special Education Teachers, All Other earn a median of $69,480 in Pennsylvania and $83,030 in New Mexico. That is a nominal gap of $13,550 (-16.3%), with New Mexico paying more before any cost-of-living adjustment.

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey, May 2024 estimates. Cost-of-living adjustment uses BEA Regional Price Parities, most recent release.

$69,480
Pennsylvania median
$71,209 after COL
$83,030
New Mexico median
$90,043 after COL
-16.3%
Nominal gap
New Mexico leads
-20.9%
Adjusted gap
New Mexico leads after COL

The story behind the numbers

On raw wages, New Mexico pays $13,550 more per year than Pennsylvania for special education teachers, all other, a gap of +16.3%.

After adjusting for cost of living, New Mexico still comes out ahead, with roughly $18,834 of extra purchasing power (+20.9% real gap). Local prices do not reverse the nominal advantage.

Full breakdown by location

Detailed wage, employment, and cost-of-living figures for special education teachers, all other in each location. Click through to the full local salary page for percentiles, outlook, and peer areas.

Special Education Teachers, All Other

Pennsylvania

Median salary
$69,480
Mean salary
$70,600
Employment
590
Location quotient
0.38
Jobs per 1,000
0.1
COL-adjusted median
$71,209
Regional Price Parity
97.6%

Exact state RPP match.

Full Special Education Teachers, All Other page for Pennsylvania →

Special Education Teachers, All Other

New Mexico

Median salary
$83,030
Mean salary
$87,940
Employment
150
Location quotient
0.67
Jobs per 1,000
0.2
COL-adjusted median
$90,043
Regional Price Parity
92.2%

Exact state RPP match.

Full Special Education Teachers, All Other page for New Mexico →

Related pages

Keep digging into special education teachers, all other from a different angle.

Common questions about this comparison

What does the cost-of-living adjustment actually do? +

It divides each location's nominal median wage by its Regional Price Parity (RPP), which measures how local prices compare to the national average (100 = national). A wage of $100,000 in an area with RPP 120 has the same purchasing power as roughly $83,000 nationally.

Why would the nominal and adjusted winners disagree? +

High-cost metros often pay higher salaries, but not by enough to fully offset the higher cost of housing, goods, and services. When that happens, the location with the lower nominal wage actually offers more real purchasing power.

What is a location quotient? +

The location quotient measures how concentrated an occupation is in a given area versus the national average. A value of 2.0 means the occupation is twice as common there as nationally. It is a signal of what a state specializes in.