Art, Drama, and Music Teachers, Postsecondary Salary

Yes — at the median salary of $73K, rent takes 21.2% of take-home pay. A 2-bedroom at the HUD Fair Market Rent runs $1,008/month. That stays under the 30% guideline most financial planners use.

The 10th-percentile wage — what new art, drama, and music teachers, postsecondaries typically earn — is $51K/year. Take-home on that works out to about $3,077/month. At HUD’s $1,008/month FMR, rent would take 33% of that take-home — above the 30% guideline, so a 1-bedroom or shared housing is likely necessary starting out.

Pay here is roughly in line with the national average — $73K locally vs. $79K nationally, a 7% difference.

West Virginia pays $73K median vs. the U.S. average of $79K — that’s -7%. After adjusting for local cost of living (RPP 89.03), the purchasing-power equivalent is $82K — still ahead of the national median.

The median is $73,280 a year. But the range is wide: entry-level workers start around $51,280, and experienced art, drama, and music teachers, postsecondaries can clear $99,250. These are BLS numbers, based on employer-reported data, not self-reported surveys.

On that salary, you'd take home roughly $4,756/month after taxes. A 2-bedroom here rents for about $1,008/month, which eats 21.2% of your paycheck. That's under the 30% guideline most financial planners use, so the numbers work.

West Virginia has a Regional Price Parity of 89.03 (100 is the national average). That's below average, your money stretches further here than the raw salary number suggests. After cost-of-living adjustment, the median art, drama, and music teachers, postsecondary salary is worth about $82,309 in national-average purchasing power.

The table above ranks every state by median pay for this role. Keep in mind that the highest-paying states tend to have the highest costs of living, so the top salary doesn't always mean the most money in your pocket.