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PlainTeacher Guide - Analysis

Teacher Salary by State: All 50 States Compared

How does your state compare? The complete ranking of all 50 states and D.C. by average estimated teacher salary, from NCES CCD F-33 Finance Survey, FY2022.

Top 10 states by estimated teacher salary

Enrollment-weighted across enrolling districts

Est. avg salary

What this shows State averages are enrollment-weighted means of district estimates, excluding non-enrolling service agencies.

Source NCES CCD F-33, FY2022 As of FY2022
Rank State Avg Salary Median Districts
1 District of Columbia $162,479 N/A 1
2 New York $153,920 N/A 546
3 Connecticut $132,756 N/A 150
4 Massachusetts $131,464 N/A 284
5 New Jersey $117,603 N/A 507
6 Vermont $112,556 N/A 73
7 Rhode Island $112,292 N/A 34
8 New Hampshire $111,228 N/A 114
9 Maryland $107,429 N/A 24
10 Maine $103,262 N/A 119
11 Wyoming $97,915 N/A 43
12 Washington $97,375 N/A 230
13 Alaska $96,275 N/A 38
14 Minnesota $94,946 N/A 307
15 Delaware $94,831 N/A 19
16 Illinois $93,101 N/A 753
17 Hawaii $93,034 N/A 1
18 Pennsylvania $92,449 N/A 504
19 North Dakota $89,687 N/A 98
20 Virginia $88,166 N/A 130
21 California $85,774 N/A 753
22 Ohio $84,740 N/A 646
23 Nebraska $84,007 N/A 197
24 Iowa $82,484 N/A 303
25 Kansas $78,291 N/A 248
26 Georgia $77,946 N/A 179
27 Wisconsin $77,480 N/A 402
28 Texas $77,352 N/A 901
29 North Carolina $77,115 N/A 115
30 Oregon $76,777 N/A 151
31 Montana $76,056 N/A 139
32 Colorado $73,266 N/A 142
33 New Mexico $72,715 N/A 70
34 Kentucky $70,089 N/A 170
35 South Carolina $69,686 N/A 76
36 West Virginia $69,522 N/A 53
37 Missouri $69,416 N/A 404
38 South Dakota $67,949 N/A 123
39 Louisiana $67,557 N/A 70
40 Michigan $66,933 N/A 497
41 Tennessee $66,654 N/A 139
42 Nevada $64,229 N/A 16
43 Arkansas $63,728 N/A 234
44 Indiana $62,627 N/A 289
45 Mississippi $62,177 N/A 138
46 Alabama $61,835 N/A 136
47 Idaho $57,931 N/A 91
48 Arizona $57,442 N/A 151
49 Oklahoma $55,183 N/A 415
50 Utah $54,571 N/A 40
51 Florida $54,048 N/A 66

Key Observations

  • The gap between the highest-paying state (New York) and the lowest is over $100,000 in estimated average salary.
  • Northeastern states dominate the top of the rankings - New York, Connecticut, New Jersey, and Massachusetts all appear in the top 5.
  • Cost of living significantly affects these numbers. A high salary in New York buys less housing than a moderate salary in the South.
  • States with strong teacher unions (California, New York, Illinois) tend to rank higher.

FAQ

Which state pays teachers the most?

New York consistently ranks as the highest-paying state for teachers, with average district salaries far exceeding the national average.

Which state pays teachers the least?

Southern states such as Mississippi, West Virginia, and Oklahoma typically have the lowest average teacher salaries, though cost-of-living differences must be considered when comparing.

Data source: NCES CCD F-33 Local Education Agency Finance Survey, FY2022 (released June 2024). View source data at NCES.ed.gov

Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.

Related

Browse all states | Rankings
Data sourced from official public datasets. See our methodology for details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainTeacher Editorial

Understanding the Data

The information presented throughout this guide is informed by publicly available public records published by federal and state government agencies. Our database aggregates and standardizes these records to make them more accessible and easier to interpret for general audiences. When we reference specific statistics or trends, they are drawn directly from these authoritative sources unless explicitly noted otherwise.

It is important to understand the limitations of any large-scale dataset. Records may contain errors from the original data collection process, some fields may be incomplete for older entries, and classification systems may have changed over time. Our analysis accounts for these factors by clearly labeling data vintage, flagging records with missing critical fields, and noting when temporal comparisons span methodology changes in the source data.

For readers who want to conduct their own research, we recommend going directly to the source whenever possible. Federal and state government agencies provide detailed documentation on collection methodology, sampling frames, and known data quality issues. Our goal is not to replace primary sources but to make them more approachable and to highlight patterns that may not be immediately obvious when browsing raw records.

How We Analyze Data Records

Our analytical approach involves several steps designed to surface meaningful insights from large datasets. First, we clean and standardize the raw data, handling variations in naming conventions, date formats, and categorical labels. Then we compute summary statistics, distributions, and comparative benchmarks across relevant dimensions such as geography, time period, and category type.

Key metrics we examine include statistical records, geographic distributions, temporal trends. These indicators provide a multi-dimensional view of each entity in our database, allowing users to understand not just individual records but how they compare to peers, regional averages, and national benchmarks. We believe this contextual approach is far more valuable than presenting raw numbers in isolation.