State Rankings
Highest Paying States for Teachers (2026): FY2022 Salary Data
According to NCES F-33 finance data (FY2022), these are the highest paying states for teachers, ranked by estimated average instructional-staff salary.
- $127,962
- #1 top salary (District of Columbia)
- $82,166
- Mean across states
- $77,910
- Median across states
- 51
- States ranked
The highest paying state for teachers in this FY2022 NCES F-33 comparison is District of Columbia, at an estimated $127,962. All 51 jurisdictions are ranked using instructional-salary expenditure and reported teacher FTE; the unweighted state mean is $82,166.
- #1 of 51: District of Columbia
- $72,259 spread, top vs bottom
What This Ranking Tells Us
This table compares the states using the same FY2022 NCES F-33 finance inputs and reported teacher-FTE counts. It is a comparison of estimated instructional-staff pay, not a measure of an individual teacher contract or purchasing power. Cost of living, benefits, tenure, subject area, and local salary schedules are outside this ranking.
By the Numbers: Highest Paying States for Teachers (2026): FY2022 Salary Data
This ranking covers 51 jurisdictions (all 50 states plus the District of Columbia) using estimated average teacher salary from the NCES Common Core of Data F-33 Local Education Agency Finance Survey, FY2022. District of Columbia leads the list at $127,962, while Arkansas sits at the bottom with $55,703 - a $72,259 spread between the highest and lowest reporting state. The mean across states is $82,166 with a median of $77,910 (an unweighted average of each state's own average - not the same as the site-wide district-level enrollment-weighted average shown elsewhere), a gap that reveals how concentrated the top of the distribution is.
Teacher-pay rankings are shaped by state funding formulas, collective bargaining density, cost-of-living adjustments, and statutory minimum salary schedules. States with strong unions and high property-tax bases tend to cluster at the top; Right-to-Work states with lean state education budgets tend to cluster at the bottom. Licensing reciprocity between neighboring states also drives compensation pressure - educators cross borders for pay differentials.
The F-33 survey covers all public Local Education Agencies (LEAs) reporting to NCES, capturing total instructional salary expenditure (variable Z33), enrollment, per-pupil spending, and revenue by source. Estimated teacher salary figures are derived by dividing Z33 by teacher FTE - these are district-level aggregates, not individual contracts. Private schools, charter networks with separate reporting, and federal BIE schools sit outside this dataset. Year-over-year comparisons require caution: district consolidations, reporting methodology changes, and late filings can shift rankings by several positions without reflecting underlying policy change. Click any state below to see per-district salary breakdowns and state-level licensing context.
Top 10 States - Avg Salary
Teacher salary by state, estimated from NCES F-33 finance data, FY2022
- District of Columbia
District of Columbia
$127,962 Est. avg salary
- New York
New York
$125,882 Est. avg salary
- California
California
$123,951 Est. avg salary
- Washington
Washington
$117,433 Est. avg salary
- Connecticut
Connecticut
$106,216 Est. avg salary
- Massachusetts
Massachusetts
$105,323 Est. avg salary
- Alaska
Alaska
$104,540 Est. avg salary
- Minnesota
Minnesota
$103,100 Est. avg salary
- Maryland
Maryland
$101,110 Est. avg salary
- Ohio
Ohio
$96,303 Est. avg salary
What this shows This view ranks all states and D.C. by the same FY2022 instructional-salary and teacher-FTE methodology; it does not adjust for cost of living or benefits.
Nominal salary versus purchasing power
Each point is one state or D.C. The horizontal value is the FY2022 NCES-derived salary estimate used in this ranking; the vertical value adjusts that same estimate with BEA's FY2022 all-items Regional Price Parity. Points above the horizontal midpoint retain more purchasing power than their nominal position alone suggests. This is not a tax, benefits, housing-budget, or individual-offer comparison.
State teacher-salary estimates before and after the same-year BEA price-level adjustment
Source: NCES CCD F-33 instructional-salary expenditure and teacher FTE, FY2022; BEA Regional Price Parities, all-items, 2022. Read the method and download the state comparison.
Reuse this state comparison
Download the same FY2022 state summary in CSV or JSON, or embed the top-ten panel. The embed preserves a visible PlainTeacher and NCES attribution; the release covers this derived state summary only.
The top 3
| # | State | Avg Salary |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | District of Columbia DC | $127,962 |
| 2 | New York NY | $125,882 |
| 3 | California CA | $123,951 |
| 4 | Washington WA | $117,433 |
| 5 | Connecticut CT | $106,216 |
| 6 | Massachusetts MA | $105,323 |
| 7 | Alaska AK | $104,540 |
| 8 | Minnesota MN | $103,100 |
| 9 | Maryland MD | $101,110 |
| 10 | Ohio OH | $96,303 |
| 11 | Rhode Island RI | $96,093 |
| 12 | New Jersey NJ | $90,256 |
| 13 | Hawaii HI | $89,313 |
| 14 | Vermont VT | $88,832 |
| 15 | Oregon OR | $88,731 |
| 16 | Delaware DE | $87,434 |
| 17 | Illinois IL | $86,298 |
| 18 | New Hampshire NH | $85,585 |
| 19 | Wyoming WY | $84,775 |
| 20 | Pennsylvania PA | $84,555 |
| 21 | Virginia VA | $84,524 |
| 22 | Utah UT | $83,296 |
| 23 | Colorado CO | $80,177 |
| 24 | Louisiana LA | $80,129 |
| 25 | Alabama AL | $78,398 |
| 26 | Iowa IA | $77,910 |
| 27 | Nebraska NE | $77,862 |
| 28 | North Dakota ND | $77,606 |
| 29 | Maine ME | $76,891 |
| 30 | North Carolina NC | $76,187 |
| 31 | Georgia GA | $75,303 |
| 32 | Texas TX | $74,920 |
| 33 | Michigan MI | $74,751 |
| 34 | Montana MT | $73,667 |
| 35 | New Mexico NM | $72,485 |
| 36 | Wisconsin WI | $71,287 |
| 37 | Kentucky KY | $70,418 |
| 38 | Tennessee TN | $68,524 |
| 39 | Arizona AZ | $68,265 |
| 40 | Idaho ID | $67,352 |
| 41 | Kansas KS | $66,655 |
| 42 | Indiana IN | $65,729 |
| 43 | South Carolina SC | $64,959 |
| 44 | Nevada NV | $64,175 |
| 45 | Florida FL | $64,083 |
| 46 | South Dakota SD | $63,995 |
| 47 | West Virginia WV | $62,740 |
| 48 | Missouri MO | $62,482 |
| 49 | Oklahoma OK | $58,364 |
| 50 | Mississippi MS | $57,919 |
| 51 | Arkansas AR | $55,703 |
Source: National Center for Education Statistics, Common Core of Data (CCD) F-33 Survey.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which state pays teachers the most?
The first row shows the highest state in this FY2022 comparison. The figure is an estimated average derived from NCES instructional-salary expenditure and reported teacher FTE, so it is useful for comparing the dataset but is not a published pay scale or an individual contract offer.
Does this ranking adjust for cost of living?
No. The ranking uses nominal dollars. A higher salary does not by itself show greater purchasing power, because housing, taxes, and other costs differ substantially by state and district.
Do these figures include benefits?
No. This ranking is based on instructional salary expenditure divided by reported teacher FTE. It does not calculate health insurance, retirement contributions, or other benefits, so it should not be read as total compensation.
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Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
Related
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. This ranking is computed directly from each district's FY2022 F-33 submission, 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 FY2022.
| Publisher | PlainTeacher |
| Sources | Public official public datasets |