Tennessee Teacher Salaries

What does the NCES F-33 data show for Tennessee?

Tennessee reports 140 public school districts in the NCES Common Core of Data FY2022 Local Education Agency Finance Survey, with an estimated average teacher salary of $66,654. That places the state in the lower third of US teacher-pay rankings — #41 of 51, materially below the national F-33 estimate of $82,292 (-19.0%). The state's public schools serve 984,331 students across these districts.

Among enrolling districts, pay varies widely: Franklin SSD reports the highest estimated average salary at $108,345, while Union County sits at the lower end at $33,173 — a spread of $75,172 between top and bottom reporting districts. Licensing rules, state aid formulas, collective bargaining density, and local tax bases all drive this intra-state variation. Urban and suburban districts with larger tax bases typically lead, while rural districts often lag despite lower cost of living.

Teacher compensation here reflects both state policy choices — the statutory minimum salary schedule, pension funding levels, licensure reciprocity — and the funding formula that determines how much state aid each district receives per pupil. A #41 national rank signals where Tennessee sits in the competition for teachers against neighboring states; teacher shortage areas typically correlate with lower pay rank. Figures below are per-district estimates derived from the F-33 instructional salary expenditure field (Z33) divided by estimated teacher FTE — a district-level aggregate, not individual salary records.