What Elementary School Teachers, Except Special Education earn in Gloucester County, VA
According to the latest federal wage data for the Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC metropolitan area, the median pay for Elementary School Teachers, Except Special Education in Gloucester County, VA is $63,380 a year, or $30.47 an hour. After federal income tax, Social Security, Medicare and state income tax, the paycheck shrinks to $50,210 a year, and rent, food and energy take another bite. The sections below walk through each step with the actual math for Gloucester County, VA.
The mean wage is $72,010, which is 13.6% above the median, a sign that a group of high earners lifts the average. The survey counts about 7,130 people working in this occupation across the Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC metropolitan area, so the estimate rests on a substantial pool of workers. Gloucester County, VA has roughly 39,526 residents, according to the population figures used by the rent data.
The salary range, from entry level to top earners
Pay for Elementary School Teachers, Except Special Education in the Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC metropolitan area is not one number. The lowest-paid tenth of workers earn up to $48,910 a year ($23.51 an hour), while the highest-paid tenth earn $100,290 or more ($48.22 an hour). That is a gap of $51,380 between the bottom and the top of the scale. The middle half of workers falls between $60,300 at the 25th percentile and $82,350 at the 75th percentile. A top-tier earner makes 2.1 times what someone at the bottom makes, so experience, certification and employer all matter.
What the hourly rate looks like
Converted to an hourly wage, the median for Elementary School Teachers, Except Special Education in Gloucester County, VA is $30.47. A full-time schedule of 40 hours for 52 weeks adds up to $63,380, and the same salary is $5,282 a month before taxes or about $2,438 per biweekly pay period. After taxes the same job pays $24.14 per hour of take-home income, which is the number that actually has to cover rent and groceries.
About this occupation: Elementary School Teachers, Except Special Education
The U.S. Department of Labor's O*NET database describes the work of Elementary School Teachers, Except Special Education this way: "Teach academic and social skills to students at the elementary school level."
Core tasks recorded by O*NET include: "Establish and enforce rules for behavior and procedures for maintaining order among the students"; "Observe and evaluate students' performance, behavior, social development, and physical health"; "Prepare materials and classrooms for class activities"; "Adapt teaching methods and instructional materials to meet students' varying needs and interests".
Job outlook for Elementary School Teachers, Except Special Education
The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects national employment in this occupation to shrink from 1,419,300 jobs in 2025 to 1,413,400 in 2035, a change of -0.4%, slower than the 3.5% projected for all occupations. The projection counts 87,500 openings a year on average, including positions created by growth and positions left by workers who retire or move to another occupation; that equals 6.2% of current employment each year.
Typical entry-level education: bachelor's degree. BLS lists a national median annual wage of $63,970 for this occupation; the Gloucester County, VA median of $63,380 is 0.9% below it.
How pay in Gloucester County, VA compares
Compared with the Virginia average
The local median of $63,380 sits below the Virginia employment-weighted average of $71,373. The shortfall is $7,993 a year, or 11.2%, so Gloucester County, VA is a lower-paying market for this job than the state as a whole. Within Virginia, the highest median we track for this job is $79,470 in Fairfax County, VA.
Compared with the national average
The national employment-weighted average for Elementary School Teachers, Except Special Education is $72,671 across the contiguous United States. At $63,380, Gloucester County, VA pays $9,291 less, which is 12.8% below 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 Gloucester County, VA
Among the 520 occupations with published wages in Gloucester County, VA, Elementary School Teachers, Except Special Education ranks number 220 by median pay, ahead of about 58% of them. The best-paying occupation we track here is Software Developers at $129,090 a year, which is $65,710 more than the median for Elementary School Teachers, Except Special Education.
From gross pay to take-home pay
A salary of $63,380 does not arrive in full. We model a single filer with wage income only, the standard deduction and tax-year 2025 rules, and we keep the three tax layers apart: federal income tax, FICA (Social Security and Medicare) and state income tax. Together they take $13,170 a year, which leaves $50,210, or $4,184 a month.
Put another way, of every $100 earned, about $21 goes to taxes and $79 reaches the paycheck. The overall effective tax rate is 20.8%.
Federal income tax
After the $15,750 standard deduction, taxable income is $47,630. 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 12% bracket. The resulting federal income tax is $5,477, an effective 8.6% of gross pay, well below the 12% 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 $3,930 on this salary. Medicare takes 1.45%, or $919. FICA totals $4,849, which is 7.6% of gross pay.
State income tax in Virginia
Virginia income tax on this salary is $2,845 a year, or 4.5% of gross pay, after the state's own deductions and exemptions are applied. That is 52% of the federal income tax bill, and it comes out to $237 a month. Local taxes such as county or city income taxes are not included, so a few jurisdictions may withhold slightly more.
A cross-check with IRS data for Gloucester County, VA
IRS Statistics of Income data for Gloucester County, VA show an average adjusted gross income of $81,420 per return and an average effective federal income tax rate of 10.9% across all filers. Filers in the $50,000 to under $75,000 bracket, where this salary falls, paid an average of 6.8%, compared with the 8.6% 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 Gloucester County, VA
Take-home pay only means something next to what life costs. We price four basics for one adult in Gloucester County, VA: a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline. All of them are converted to annual figures first, then compared with the $50,210 of take-home pay.
Rent
The HUD Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Gloucester County, VA is $1,488 a month, or $17,856 a year. A two-bedroom costs $1,667 a month. For Elementary School Teachers, Except Special Education, a one-bedroom absorbs 35.6% of take-home pay and 28.2% 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 5.4% of gross pay for Elementary School Teachers, Except Special Education in Gloucester County, VA. It is a thrifty budget with no restaurant meals, so treat it as a floor.
Energy and gasoline
Using Virginia residential prices from the Energy Information Administration and national household averages for consumption, electricity costs about $1,523 a year and other home energy such as natural gas about $597, for $2,119 in total. Gasoline in Virginia averages $3.09 per gallon; at about 463 gallons a year (11,106 miles at 24 miles per gallon) fuel adds $1,429.
What is left over
Add the four basics together and living costs come to $24,840 a year, 49% of take-home pay. That leaves $25,370 a year, or $2,114 a month, for savings, transportation beyond fuel, health care, debt and everything else. That margin equals 40.0% of gross pay, a comfortable cushion by common budgeting rules.
Local housing and commute data for Gloucester County, VA
The budget above covers rent, food, energy and gasoline. Three more local facts shape what a paycheck buys in Gloucester County, VA: 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 Gloucester County, VA, set beside the Virginia and national medians.
Property taxes in Gloucester County, VA
Homeowners in Gloucester County, VA pay a median of $1,878 a year in real estate taxes, 33% below the Virginia median of $2,790 and 40% below the U.S. median of $3,119. Against a median home value of $331,000, the median tax bill is 0.57% of that value (the ratio of the two county medians). For a worker paid the local Elementary School Teachers, Except Special Education median of $63,380, a tax bill of that size would equal 3.0% of gross pay, which matters for anyone planning to buy rather than rent.
Rents, home prices and household income in Gloucester County, VA
Renters in Gloucester County, VA pay a median gross rent of $1,096 a month in the Census survey, 31% below the Virginia median of $1,579. HUD's Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom apartment, which this site uses in the budget, is $1,488 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 $331,000, 14% below the Virginia median of $383,700. Median household income is $84,306, 10% below the Virginia median of $93,170, so a year of one-bedroom Fair Market Rent equals 21.2% of that income.
Commuting in Gloucester County, VA
Workers in Gloucester County, VA who travel to a workplace spend an average of 34.8 minutes each way, 27% above the Virginia average of 27.3. For someone who commutes five days a week, that is 5.8 hours of round-trip travel every week, a cost the budget does not price. 10.9% of workers in Gloucester County, VA work from home, compared with 15.1% nationally, which removes the commute for them.
Can Elementary School Teachers, Except Special Education afford to live in Gloucester County, VA?
The 30% rent guideline
A common rule of thumb says rent should stay under 30% of gross income. For a gross salary of $63,380 that ceiling is $1,585 a month. The one-bedroom Fair Market Rent of $1,488 is $97 under it, so rent fits the guideline. Put as a wage, covering a one-bedroom at the 30% guideline takes $28.62 an hour; the median for Elementary School Teachers, Except Special Education is $30.47, which is 6% above that mark. Another way to see it: at $24.14 of take-home pay an hour, a one-bedroom takes about 14.2 working hours every week.
Splitting a two-bedroom
Sharing a two-bedroom at $1,667 a month means $834 each. Compared with renting a one-bedroom alone, that saves $7,854 a year. With a roommate, the yearly margin after the basics becomes $33,224.
How fast you can save
At $2,114 a month of margin, building a $10,000 emergency fund would take about 5 months. Setting aside half of the margin stretches the same goal to about 10 months. These figures ignore interest, raises and any spending beyond the four basics.
Frequently asked questions about Elementary School Teachers, Except Special Education pay in Gloucester County, VA
What is the hourly wage for Elementary School Teachers, Except Special Education in Gloucester County, VA?
The median is $30.47 per hour, based on $63,380 a year over 2,080 hours. Hourly pay runs from about $23.51 at the 10th percentile to $48.22 at the 90th percentile.
What is the take-home pay for Elementary School Teachers, Except Special Education in Gloucester County, VA?
After federal income tax, FICA and state income tax, the median salary of $63,380 becomes $50,210 a year. That is $4,184 a month, $1,931 every two weeks or $966 a week.
What percentage of pay goes to taxes for Elementary School Teachers, Except Special Education in Gloucester County, VA?
Total taxes are $13,170 a year, an effective rate of 20.8%: $5,477 federal income tax, $4,849 FICA and $2,845 Virginia income tax.
Is pay for Elementary School Teachers, Except Special Education in Gloucester County, VA above the Virginia average?
No. The local median of $63,380 is -11.2% versus the Virginia average of $71,373, a difference of $7,993 a year.
Is a one-bedroom rent affordable on the median Elementary School Teachers, Except Special Education salary in Gloucester County, VA?
A one-bedroom costs $1,488 a month against take-home pay of $4,184, which is 35.6% of take-home pay. That meets the 30%-of-gross guideline, which allows up to $1,585 a month.
How much is left after rent, food and energy for Elementary School Teachers, Except Special Education in Gloucester County, VA?
About $2,114 a month ($25,370 a year) remains after a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline, which together cost $24,840 a year.
What hourly wage covers a one-bedroom in Gloucester County, VA at the 30% guideline?
$28.62 an hour for a full-time schedule, calculated as the $17,856 annual rent divided by 0.30 and by 2,080 hours. The median for Elementary School Teachers, Except Special Education is $30.47.
How we calculated these numbers
Wages are May 2025 medians from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey for the Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC 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 Virginia 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.