Teaching Assistants, Postsecondary Salary

It’s a stretch — at the median salary of $48K, rent takes 36.9% of take-home pay. A 2-bedroom at the HUD Fair Market Rent runs $1,202/month. The 30% guideline puts the comfortable ceiling at roughly $1,000/month in rent — so roommates or a 1-bedroom would ease the math significantly.

The 10th-percentile wage — what new teaching assistants, postsecondaries typically earn — is $31K/year. Take-home on that works out to about $1,840/month. At HUD’s $1,202/month FMR, rent would take 65% of that take-home — above the 30% guideline, so a 1-bedroom or shared housing is likely necessary starting out.

Local pay is 12% above the national median — $48K here vs. $43K nationally.

Wisconsin pays $48K median vs. the U.S. average of $43K — that’s +12%. After adjusting for local cost of living (RPP 94.33), the purchasing-power equivalent is $51K — still ahead of the national median.

The median is $47,990 a year. But the range is wide: entry-level workers start around $30,670, and experienced teaching assistants, postsecondaries can clear $58,740. These are BLS numbers, based on employer-reported data, not self-reported surveys.

On that salary, you'd take home roughly $3,259/month after taxes. A 2-bedroom here rents for about $1,202/month, which eats 36.9% of your paycheck. That's above the 30% rule of thumb, housing will be a stretch at the median salary, though you can manage with roommates or a smaller place.

Wisconsin has a Regional Price Parity of 94.33 (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 teaching assistants, postsecondary salary is worth about $50,875 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.