Compared with the local labor market
Special Education Assistant pay vs. the Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD area
Across all employers in the Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD area, the median wage for Teaching Assistants, Except Postsecondary — about 26,990 people — is $36,080. Potter-Thomas School pays a median base salary of $27,887 for this role, 23% below that figure — about the 13th percentile of local pay for the occupation.
Where Potter-Thomas School sits in the local pay range
$26,870
$32,220
$36,080
$40,010
$46,470
Potter-Thomas School median · $27,887
The bar is the range of annual wages for Teaching Assistants, Except Postsecondary across every employer in the Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD area, from the 10th to the 90th percentile, with the middle 50% highlighted. The marker shows Potter-Thomas School’s median base salary for this role. Both figures are base pay only.
And across the country
Nationwide, the median wage for Teaching Assistants, Except Postsecondary — about 1,420,350 people — is $36,780. Potter-Thomas School’s median base salary is 24% below that national figure, about the 13th percentile of pay for the occupation nationally.
$27,150
$31,060
$36,780
$45,360
$50,040
Potter-Thomas School median · $27,887
Local and national wages differ for reasons beyond how well a job pays — cost of living, the mix of employers, and local demand for the occupation all move the Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD range relative to the national one.
Median total compensation for this role at Potter-Thomas School is $27,887, which includes overtime and employer-paid benefits. The benchmark above excludes both, so total compensation is deliberately not compared against it.
Benchmark: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (May 2025). BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) covers all employers in the area — private, non-profit, and government alike — so this is a comparison against the whole local labor market for the occupation, not against private-sector pay. OEWS wages are straight-time pay and exclude overtime, shift differentials, and employer-paid benefits, so the government figure shown here is base pay on the same basis. Total compensation is not comparable to it. Job titles are matched to the closest standard occupation, so the comparison is between similar work rather than an identical job classification.