State Rankings
States with the Lowest Average Teacher Salary
According to NCES F-33 finance data (FY2022), all states are ranked here by lowest average teacher salary.
- $55,703
- #1 top salary (Arkansas)
- $82,166
- Mean across states
- $77,910
- Median across states
- 51
- States ranked
Arkansas leads this ranking of estimated average teacher salary at $55,703, across 51 states ranked by the NCES Common Core of Data F-33 survey. The mean across all ranked states is $82,166, the median $77,910.
- #1 of 51: Arkansas
- $72,259 spread, top vs bottom
What This Ranking Tells Us
States with the lowest teacher salaries are concentrated in the Southeast and Mountain West. Mississippi, West Virginia, and South Dakota consistently rank at the bottom. While cost of living is lower in these states, the salary gap often exceeds the cost-of-living difference, creating real compensation shortfalls. Low salaries correlate with teacher shortage severity - states paying the least often have the hardest time recruiting and retaining educators.
By the Numbers: States with the Lowest Average Teacher Salary
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. Arkansas leads the list at $55,703, while District of Columbia sits at the bottom with $127,962 - 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
States with the lowest estimated average teacher salaries, FY2022
- Arkansas
Arkansas
$55,703 Est. avg salary
- Mississippi
Mississippi
$57,919 Est. avg salary
- Oklahoma
Oklahoma
$58,364 Est. avg salary
- Missouri
Missouri
$62,482 Est. avg salary
- West Virginia
West Virginia
$62,740 Est. avg salary
- South Dakota
South Dakota
$63,995 Est. avg salary
- Florida
Florida
$64,083 Est. avg salary
- Nevada
Nevada
$64,175 Est. avg salary
- South Carolina
South Carolina
$64,959 Est. avg salary
- Indiana
Indiana
$65,729 Est. avg salary
What this shows Southeast and Mountain West states concentrate at the bottom, where lower tax bases and limited union density keep educator pay constrained.
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 | Arkansas AR | $55,703 |
| 2 | Mississippi MS | $57,919 |
| 3 | Oklahoma OK | $58,364 |
| 4 | Missouri MO | $62,482 |
| 5 | West Virginia WV | $62,740 |
| 6 | South Dakota SD | $63,995 |
| 7 | Florida FL | $64,083 |
| 8 | Nevada NV | $64,175 |
| 9 | South Carolina SC | $64,959 |
| 10 | Indiana IN | $65,729 |
| 11 | Kansas KS | $66,655 |
| 12 | Idaho ID | $67,352 |
| 13 | Arizona AZ | $68,265 |
| 14 | Tennessee TN | $68,524 |
| 15 | Kentucky KY | $70,418 |
| 16 | Wisconsin WI | $71,287 |
| 17 | New Mexico NM | $72,485 |
| 18 | Montana MT | $73,667 |
| 19 | Michigan MI | $74,751 |
| 20 | Texas TX | $74,920 |
| 21 | Georgia GA | $75,303 |
| 22 | North Carolina NC | $76,187 |
| 23 | Maine ME | $76,891 |
| 24 | North Dakota ND | $77,606 |
| 25 | Nebraska NE | $77,862 |
| 26 | Iowa IA | $77,910 |
| 27 | Alabama AL | $78,398 |
| 28 | Louisiana LA | $80,129 |
| 29 | Colorado CO | $80,177 |
| 30 | Utah UT | $83,296 |
| 31 | Virginia VA | $84,524 |
| 32 | Pennsylvania PA | $84,555 |
| 33 | Wyoming WY | $84,775 |
| 34 | New Hampshire NH | $85,585 |
| 35 | Illinois IL | $86,298 |
| 36 | Delaware DE | $87,434 |
| 37 | Oregon OR | $88,731 |
| 38 | Vermont VT | $88,832 |
| 39 | Hawaii HI | $89,313 |
| 40 | New Jersey NJ | $90,256 |
| 41 | Rhode Island RI | $96,093 |
| 42 | Ohio OH | $96,303 |
| 43 | Maryland MD | $101,110 |
| 44 | Minnesota MN | $103,100 |
| 45 | Alaska AK | $104,540 |
| 46 | Massachusetts MA | $105,323 |
| 47 | Connecticut CT | $106,216 |
| 48 | Washington WA | $117,433 |
| 49 | California CA | $123,951 |
| 50 | New York NY | $125,882 |
| 51 | District of Columbia DC | $127,962 |
Source: National Center for Education Statistics, Common Core of Data (CCD) F-33 Survey.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why are teacher salaries so low in some states?
Several factors drive low teacher salaries: limited state education funding formulas, lower overall tax bases, political priorities that favor other budget categories, weaker collective bargaining frameworks for teachers, and lower cost of living that reduces pressure to increase pay. Some low-salary states have recently enacted salary floors or minimum teacher pay legislation to address the issue.
What is the lowest teacher salary in the US?
Average teacher salaries bottom out around $45,000-$50,000 in states like Mississippi, West Virginia, and South Dakota. Starting salaries for new teachers in these states can be as low as $33,000-$38,000, though most states have been raising minimums in recent years due to severe shortage pressures.
Explore More Rankings
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 |