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PlainTeacher Data

Teacher Salary Rankings

States ranked by teacher pay, enrollment, and district count - all from NCES Common Core of Data (CCD) F-33 survey, FY2023.

District of Columbia pay #1 is not California enrollment #1

District of Columbia ranks #1 of 49 on the unweighted mean teacher-salary estimate ($124,986, 1 reliable district) but California ranks #1 of 49 by enrollment in that same pool (5,249,524 students, salary rank #2). The highest-paying jurisdiction is not the largest. Alaska and Illinois have no district with a usable teacher-salary estimate in this extract (reported salary between $30k and $200k with enrollment of at least 200), so they are omitted rather than imputed. Open a category for the 49-row table, then jump to a state page for district detail and purchasing-power context.

  • Pay #1 District of Columbia
  • Enrollment #1 California
  • Pool 49

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, these rankings are compiled from the FY2023 Common Core of Data F-33 Local Education Agency Finance Survey, published June 2024. The salary tables count only districts with a usable teacher-salary estimate. Alaska and Illinois have no district with a usable teacher-salary estimate in this extract (reported salary between $30k and $200k with enrollment of at least 200), so they are omitted rather than imputed. See our methodology for the exact calculation.

Highest Paying States for Teachers

Average teacher pay among the 49 jurisdictions with a usable district salary estimate, ranked highest to lowest from FY2023 NCES F-33 data.

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  1. 1 District of Columbia $124,986
  2. 2 California $110,546
  3. 3 Delaware $92,029
  4. 4 New York $89,760
  5. 5 Rhode Island $89,674

Lowest Average Teacher Salary

States where teachers earn the least on average in the same reliable-district pool.

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  1. 1 Arkansas $43,221
  2. 2 Oklahoma $48,569
  3. 3 North Carolina $49,898
  4. 4 South Dakota $50,422
  5. 5 Mississippi $51,325

Largest Total Enrollment

States with the most students in the same reliable-district pool, not a statewide headcount.

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  1. 1 California 5,249,524
  2. 2 Texas 5,098,113
  3. 3 Florida 2,851,473
  4. 4 Georgia 1,708,749
  5. 5 Ohio 1,558,550

Most School Districts

States with the most public school districts counted in that pool.

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  1. 1 Texas 903
  2. 2 California 777
  3. 3 Ohio 649
  4. 4 New York 642
  5. 5 New Jersey 523

How PlainTeacher Rankings Are Compiled

Our rankings are computed directly from the upstream dataset - not editorially curated and not influenced by advertisers. Each ranking surfaces a clear, reproducible metric (for example, count of records per jurisdiction, share of records within a category, or rate per capita), and the underlying numbers are visible on the associated record pages so you can verify them. We recompute rankings whenever the upstream data refreshes, and we publish the refresh cadence on the methodology page.

What Rankings Mean (and What They Do Not)

A ranking is a useful lens - it tells you where to start looking - but it is not a judgment about quality, safety, or reputation. Being at the top of a count-based ranking typically reflects scale: more records in a jurisdiction, more entities in a category. It does not mean "better" or "worse." Whenever a ranking could be misread as a quality claim, we include an explanatory note on the page. When a ranking is rate-based (per capita, per thousand, share), we describe the denominator so you can sanity-check whether the normalization fits your question.

Why We Publish These Rankings

Rankings make large public datasets navigable. Most visitors arrive with a question ("Which jurisdiction has the most records?" or "Where is this category concentrated?") and benefit from seeing a ranked list with direct links to the full records. Publishing ranked views of public data is a long-established practice in civic journalism; we are careful to surface the raw numbers, link to the official source, and avoid editorial spin. If a ranking ever implies a value judgment not supported by the data, please email us at the address on the contact page and we will review the wording.

Methodology, Sources, and Corrections

Every ranking is derived from the source dataset linked on the methodology page. We do not blend proprietary signals; we do not substitute editor opinion for data. If you believe a ranking is miscomputed or that a record is misclassified, please contact us with the specific record ID and the expected correction, and we will investigate within the next refresh cycle. Corrections that affect the published ranking are rolled forward immediately; minor formatting fixes go out with the next scheduled refresh.

Download the state teacher-salary extract cited on this page: teacher-salary-by-state.csv (CC0). Field notes and methodology live on /data/teacher-salary-by-state.

According to the NCES Common Core of Data (CCD) F-33 Local Education Agency Finance Survey, PlainTeacher's figures are computed directly, no number is typed in by an editor. Every ranking is recomputed directly from the source FY2023 F-33 submissions, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error on this page. Data current as of FY2023.