- Teachers have a median annual salary of just over $61,000
- The median US income in 2021 was $69,717 – $8,717 more than the median salary for a teacher
- Teachers earn 23.5% less than comparable college graduates
- The median income of a person with a master’s degree is $81,848
- The median income of a teacher with a master’s degree is $70,279 – $11,569 less than the median income of a person with a master’s degree
- Teachers are only paid for the days they work – meaning that teachers are not paid for the extended summer vacations
- However, many teachers choose to take their 9 months of salary in 12 monthly payments
- 17.9% of public school teachers have a second job outside of being a teacher to make ends meet
- A new teacher in DC earns 1.7 times the salary of a new teacher in Montana
- A new teacher in DC earns more than the average teacher in 21 states
Teacher salary statistics by state
- Washington DC and New Jersey are the states with the largest starting salaries for new teachers
- However, New York and California are the states with the largest average salaries for teachers
- Montana, Missouri, and Oklahoma have the smallest starting salaries for teachers
- South Dakota, Mississippi, and Oklahoma are the states with the smallest average salaries for teachers
- There is a $21,323 difference between the average starting salary of a teacher in DC versus a teacher in Montana
- A new teacher in DC earns 1.7 times the salary of a new teacher in Montana
- A new teacher in DC earns more than the average teacher in 21 states
| State | Average Starting Salary | Average Salary | Avg. Salary 1970 | % growth |
| New York | $44,935 | $79,637 | $10,336 | 670.48% |
| California | $44,782 | $78,711 | $10,315 | 663.07% |
| Massachusetts | $44,726 | $77,804 | $8,764 | 787.77% |
| District of Columbia | $51,359 | $76,131 | $10,285 | 640.21% |
| Connecticut | $45,280 | $72,561 | $9,262 | 683.43% |
| New Jersey | $51,179 | $69,623 | $9,130 | 662.57% |
| Alaska | $46,785 | $68,138 | $10,560 | 545.25% |
| Maryland | $44,675 | $66,961 | $9,383 | 613.64% |
| Rhode Island | $41,481 | $66,477 | $8,776 | 657.49% |
| Pennsylvania | $44,144 | $65,863 | $8,858 | 643.54% |
| Michigan | $36,234 | $62,200 | $9,826 | 533.01% |
| Oregon | $35,534 | $61,631 | $8,818 | 598.92% |
| Illinois | $38,820 | $61,602 | $9,569 | 543.77% |
| Delaware | $41,415 | $60,214 | $9,015 | 567.93% |
| Vermont | $38,483 | $60,187 | $7,968 | 655.36% |
| Wyoming | $45,207 | $58,650 | $8,232 | 612.46% |
| Hawaii | $45,963 | $57,674 | $9,453 | 510.11% |
| Nevada | $37,973 | $57,376 | $9,215 | 522.64% |
| Minnesota | $37,644 | $57,346 | $8,658 | 562.35% |
| New Hampshire | $36,845 | $57,253 | $7,771 | 636.75% |
| Ohio | $35,249 | $57,000 | $8,300 | 586.75% |
| Iowa | $35,766 | $55,443 | $8,355 | 563.59% |
| Wisconsin | $36,983 | $54,998 | $8,963 | 513.61% |
| Georgia | $34,872 | $54,602 | $7,276 | 650.44% |
| Washington | $40,426 | $54,147 | $9,225 | 486.96% |
| Texas | $40,725 | $52,575 | $7,255 | 624.67% |
| Kentucky | $36,494 | $52,339 | $6,953 | 652.75% |
| Nebraska | $33,854 | $52,338 | $7,375 | 609.67% |
| North Dakota | $38,032 | $51,618 | $6,696 | 670.88% |
| Montana | $30,036 | $51,422 | $7,606 | 576.07% |
| Maine | $33,876 | $51,077 | $7,572 | 574.55% |
| Virginia | $39,398 | $51,049 | $8,070 | 532.58% |
| Indiana | $35,241 | $50,554 | $8,833 | 472.33% |
| Louisiana | $40,128 | $50,000 | $7,028 | 611.44% |
| North Carolina | $37,514 | $49,837 | $7,494 | 565.03% |
| Florida | $37,405 | $49,407 | $8,412 | 487.34% |
| Alabama | $38,477 | $48,868 | $6,818 | 616.75% |
| Arkansas | $33,973 | $48,616 | $6,307 | 670.83% |
| South Carolina | $33,057 | $48,598 | $6,927 | 601.57% |
| Tennessee | $36,402 | $48,456 | $7,050 | 587.32% |
| Missouri | $31,842 | $48,293 | $7,799 | 519.22% |
| Kansas | $34,883 | $47,984 | $7,612 | 530.37% |
| Idaho | $33,743 | $47,504 | $6,890 | 589.46% |
| New Mexico | $34,544 | $47,500 | $7,796 | 509.29% |
| Arizona | $34,068 | $47,403 | $8,711 | 444.17% |
| Utah | $35,722 | $47,244 | $7,644 | 518.05% |
| Colorado | $32,980 | $46,506 | $7,761 | 499.23% |
| West Virginia | $33,684 | $45,701 | $7,650 | 497.40% |
| Oklahoma | $31,919 | $45,245 | $6,882 | 557.44% |
| Mississippi | $34,780 | $42,925 | $5,798 | 640.34% |
| South Dakota | $37,419 | $42,668 | $6,403 | 566.38% |
States with the highest and lowest starting salaries
States with the highest and lowest average salaries for teachers
Growth in teachers’ salaries over the last 50 years by State
- Since 1970, teacher salaries in Massachusetts have grown by 787.8% from $8,764 to $77,804
- In the same time, pay for teachers in Arizona has grown from $8,711 to $47,403
- The growth in salary for teachers in Massachusetts has been 1.7 times the growth in salary for teachers in Arizona
- The $30,401 salary difference between teachers in these states is far to wide to be explained away by the cost of living in these two states
Average salaries for teachers 1960 – 2021
- Since 1960, the average salary for a teacher has grown from $4,995 to $65,090
- This is a 1203.10% increase
| Year | Avg. starting salary for a teacher | Elementary school salary | Secondary school salary |
| 1960 | $4,995 | $4,815 | $5,276 |
| 1962 | $5,515 | $5,340 | $5,775 |
| 1964 | $5,995 | $5,805 | $6,266 |
| 1966 | $6,485 | $6,279 | $6,761 |
| 1968 | $7,423 | $7,208 | $7,692 |
| 1970 | $8,626 | $8,412 | $8,891 |
| 1971 | $9,268 | $9,021 | $9,568 |
| 1972 | $9,705 | $9,424 | $10,031 |
| 1973 | $10,174 | $9,893 | $10,507 |
| 1974 | $10,770 | $10,507 | $11,077 |
| 1975 | $11,641 | $11,334 | $12,000 |
| 1976 | $12,600 | $12,280 | $12,937 |
| 1977 | $13,354 | $12,989 | $13,776 |
| 1978 | $14,198 | $13,845 | $14,602 |
| 1979 | $15,032 | $14,681 | $15,450 |
| 1980 | $15,970 | $15,569 | $16,459 |
| 1981 | $17,644 | $17,230 | $18,142 |
| 1982 | $19,274 | $18,853 | $19,805 |
| 1983 | $20,695 | $20,227 | $21,291 |
| 1984 | $21,935 | $21,487 | $22,554 |
| 1985 | $23,600 | $23,200 | $24,187 |
| 1986 | $25,199 | $24,718 | $25,846 |
| 1987 | $26,569 | $26,057 | $27,244 |
| 1988 | $28,034 | $27,519 | $28,798 |
| 1989 | $29,564 | $29,022 | $30,218 |
| 1990 | $31,367 | $30,832 | $32,049 |
| 1991 | $33,084 | $32,490 | $33,896 |
| 1992 | $34,063 | $33,479 | $34,827 |
| 1993 | $35,029 | $34,350 | $35,880 |
| 1994 | $35,737 | $35,233 | $36,566 |
| 1995 | $36,675 | $36,088 | $37,523 |
| 1996 | $37,642 | $37,138 | $38,397 |
| 1997 | $38,443 | $38,039 | $39,184 |
| 1998 | $39,350 | $39,002 | $39,994 |
| 1999 | $40,554 | $40,165 | $41,203 |
| 2000 | $41,807 | $41,306 | $42,546 |
| 2001 | $43,378 | $42,910 | $44,053 |
| 2002 | $44,655 | $44,177 | $45,310 |
| 2003 | $45,686 | $45,408 | $46,106 |
| 2004 | $46,542 | $46,187 | $46,976 |
| 2005 | $47,516 | $47,122 | $47,688 |
| 2006 | $49,086 | $48,573 | $49,496 |
| 2007 | $51,052 | $50,740 | $51,529 |
| 2008 | $52,800 | $52,358 | $53,262 |
| 2009 | $54,368 | $53,998 | $54,552 |
| 2010 | $55,370 | $54,918 | $55,595 |
| 2011 | $55,759 | $55,217 | $56,225 |
| 2012 | $56,062 | $54,704 | $56,226 |
| 2013 | $56,377 | $55,344 | $57,077 |
| 2014 | $57,077 | $56,395 | $56,886 |
| 2015 | $57,759 | $57,092 | $57,678 |
| 2016 | $58,506 | $58,225 | $58,385 |
| 2017 | $59,722 | $58,773 | $58,978 |
| 2018 | $60,785 | ||
| 2019 | $62,355 | ||
| 2020 | $64,133 | ||
| 2021 | $65,090 |
Average teacher salary by gender
- Female teachers make up approximately 77% of the profession
- However, female teachers make $2,200 less than their male colleagues
- The largest driver of the gender wage gap in teaching is the supplemental pay that teachers receive for taking on extra duties in school
- The gap is:
- $714 in base pay
- $1,204 in extra-duty pay
- $260 for summer jobs
- Male coaches earn $1,647 more than their female counterparts which is the role with the biggest discrepancy in “extra-duty” pay
- Women make up 56 percent of the nation’s principals and just 30 percent of the superintendents of the largest 500 school districts
- Meaning men are disproportionately represented in leadership roles in respect to their overall representation in the teaching profession
- The wage gap for female teachers vs similarly educated females in other fields went from 14.7% more in 1960 to 13.9% less today
- Male teachers earned 22.1% less in 1979 than similarly educated males
- This grew to 24.5% in 2015
Average teacher salary by race
- Black teachers earn $2,700 less per year than white teachers
- Those who teach in high-poverty areas earn $4,000 less than those who teach in low-poverty regions
- 80% of the teachers in public schools are white and teachers of color leave teaching at a much higher rate
Average salary for teachers by school and role
- High school teachers earn slightly more than elementary, and middle school teachers
- However, teachers across different schools are paid more or less the same
- Child and family social workers are paid significantly less at $54,880 on average
| School | Average salary ($) |
| Elementary School Teacher | $67,080 |
| Middle School Teacher | $66,880 |
| High School Teacher | $69,530 |
| School Counselor | $63,090 |
| Child and Family Social Worker | $54,880 |