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 Every few years the American Federation of Teachers releases a Teacher Salary Trends report about teacher salaries across the United States. This information helps teachers decide where to teach and how much they should earn. The latest report indicated that the average teacher salary was $47,602. The Federation indicated that unfortunately, teachers are struggling to find housing in their areas that they can afford on their salaries. As more teachers pursue additional education after receiving their bachelor’s degree, their student loan debt increases dramatically. New teachers may not start at an average teacher salary and could therefore struggle even more than veteran teachers, who may have higher salaries.
In a profession with increasingly high turnover and recruiting issues, boosting the salaries of new teachers could help to increase the amount of time they spend with a particular school or school district. Additionally, wide discrepancies between teacher salaries from region to region also affect the likelihood that a qualified teacher will work for a school with low salaries. Some school districts offer high teacher salaries and great benefits, while others do not. With the rising price of gas and other inflation, teachers must make difficult choices when considering where to work. Again, the discrepancy in teacher salary from district to district can hinder the likelihood of retaining veteran teachers. Before accepting a position, teachers should research the salaries from district to district in their areas. Ask other teachers where they enjoy working and for a list of pros and cons of a particular school or school district.
Current Teacher Employment Opportunities
The most recent report included a list of teacher salaries by state. The state with the highest average teacher salary was Connecticut, at $57,760. California was a very close second, where the average teacher salary is $57,604. New Jersey teachers make approximately $56,635 per year. Rounding out the top five were Illinois and Rhode Island, with the average teacher salary at $56,494 and $56,432, respectively. The state with the lowest average teacher salary was South Dakota, at $34,039.
According to CBSalary.com, the average teacher salary by city was as follows: 
- Springfield, IL - $48,015
- Chicago, IL - $53,713
- Atlanta, GA - $35,903
- Savannah, GA - $25,008
- Orlando, FL - $31,684
- Tampa, FL - $36,630
- Miami, FL - $34,501
Teacher salary also varies according to education level of the teacher. A teacher with a four year bachelor’s degree may make less than a teacher with a master’s degree. The ranges for teacher salary in Chicago, IL vary from $37,372 to $89,620. This wide range obviously incorporates education level and experience of a multitude of teachers. Teacher salary also depends on what school level or subject teachers specialize in. A secondary school teacher may make more than a primary school teacher. In Chicago, a primary school teacher makes approximately $44,480. A secondary school teacher makes about $4,000 more, or $48,180. The average mathematics teacher makes $38,211, while the average science teacher makes $62,391. These teachers may make up to $52,977 or $87,946, respectively. A history teacher at the secondary level makes $38,256. The highest reported income for a history teacher in Chicago is $53,106. These wide ranges include teachers in public and private institutions at a variety of experience levels.
Related information:- What is the career outlook in my state? Explore state-by-state wage and career outlook data at America's Career InfoNet. Once you select an occupation and state, the site yields salary medians and average annual job openings. Get the latest information on everything from barbers to bellhops and crane operators to chemistry teachers....
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- June 2007 Employment Report Recent business services research from Baird Human Capital Services indicates that the United States is currently supporting a “very healthy labor market.” The report also stated that there are “generally positive implications” for employment opportunities. The positive report was consistent with past reports and indicates that growth has generally...
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not here in michigan when a teacher makes $448 a day and that is for 10 months not including the dis 
what exactly is in the employment history that these employers get. will a job i didnt mention on my 
Teahers will always be under paid in the USA. Government control causes the problems in all public s
36 Responses for "Teacher Salaries by State"
solidworks teacher
Hi I wouldn’t now if the recent you are talking about is 2007 or what year was it? I found no concluding date with this article. Please email me. I am making a research for ave sal and beg sal for Connecticut teachers. Thanks.
How can I find a current list of average teacher salaries for every US state. I’m currently teaching in Maryland and we are not receiving raises, therefore I need to find low cost of living and decent salaries.
crikey. you should all emigrate. teachers’ salaries average $70,000 in the uk
Unfortunately, this entire article is a little off. Sure the average pay is that high…but that is including the pay of supervisors and principles that never even teach a student. The average pay for a teacher with a B.S. degree in Mississippi? Just over 20k, yet their average supervisor pay? Near 40-50k. Its all a cleverly designed myth” to avoid having tax payers ask for more money in education.
Wake up America - your government has been at social war with you for decades.
This was a great refrence thank you.
I just looked at North Carolina’s teacher’s salary for 2007-2008 on their website and they had $58,000 (based off 31 years of experience) w/ just a Bachelor’s. $70,000 average in the UK?
Assuming the school in which the teacher is employmed is not year round, how does he/she get paid during the summer? How is that worked into the contract?
I’m moving to the UK…….
I can answer that……….your contract specifies a total number of school days that are worked. For example, just off the wall, you work 252 days which is the actual school year. You get paid ONLY for those 252 days saying that the salary for those days worked is $32,000.
The $32,000 is then divided by 12 months which gives you salary during the summer when you are teaching. Some people say, you’re so lucky, you get paid during the summer for not working.
Not the case. The case is you’re getting “less” salary during the months you work because it’s stretched to cover a full year. But I think it works out great.
Oops, mistake in what I posted…….should say “……is then divided by 12 months which gives you salary during the summer when you are NOT teaching……..”
The salaries vary from county to county. Sometimes even town to town. Generally they are very high in Fairfield County. As you move east and north they are less. But in comparing them to the majority of the country I think we have it pretty good here in Connecticut.
I am in my 8th year with a Master’s degree and make around 65K. Although that won’t make me rich, I get close to a $5000 raise each year until step 13. Making 90 K in 5 years sounds pretty good to me to have summers off. I am happy with the salary scale.
They use division. If you make 45,000 a year they divide that by 12. And thats how much you make each month.
I am entering my sixth year of teaching. I receive 59,600 per year. This is for 12months. THis is for 08 09 school. THis is in Calif. I was sur[rise to see how low some states pay.
It is avg over 12 months.
The way a contract works with a teacher (at least in TN) is that you sign to either get paid for the time you are in school or you have the option to get paid weekly in the summer as well (this is the best option). Say you and your next door teacher both graduate college the same year, and you choose to get checks throughout the year and she chooses only the school year option. Your checks might be smaller than the teacher next door to you, but you would get checks in the summer and she wouldn’t.
Summer school? 31 years? How could any teacher survive 31 years and teach summer school. . . and not have twitches, grey hair, twitches, and high blood pressure. NC has a base state pay plus a local supplement. Chapel Hill and Wake County (Raleigh) have the highest. Still, you’ll get 5 periods a day, duty during lunch and probably before or after school (no extra pay for that), and more headaches than a factory’s load of Tylenol (super strength) can handle. Are there no bankers? Lawyers? At least they get well paid for their ulcers.
It is usually automatically spread over 12 months.
i find that teaching is great help for students who take advantage of this because they make you feel good whether the pay isn’t but making progress in someone else’s life really makes the years in college worth while and my salary is 55,920 in south texas
please, we need all of you to emigrate.
Even SouthKorean teachers getting aver $40000/year
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Don’t know where this data came from but I would love to be making 34K like in South Dakota! I teach high school in Louisiana and I make — hope you are sitting down— $26,500 per year! Unbelieveable isn’t it!
I am broken up between majoring in math or physics. my ultimate goal is to teach one of the two. is there a difference in pay, specifically for NJ, and if so, aprox how much?
also, if i got a bachelors in math, let’s say how would i go about teaching. i guess i would have to get certified or something…how exactly does that work without majoring in education? THNX
how much of salary is lost due to taxes? we make a lot in Canada (right now with 2 degrees and working vice principal, making over 80 000) - but probably half is lost to taxes, all told. Is it the same in the USA?
on long island the average salary is about $80,000 a year. and teaching over 10 years will boost you to and over $100,000 a year. i think a little over paid since teachers in schools that have much harder teaching environments just barely make half that.
Many of you are talking about salaries, what about unions. That is the real issue, if you have a union at least they will fight for you to receive an increase and your benefits. Long Island has a nice salary, but ask about some of their stipulations.
Are there any other cities/board of eds in the country that are experiencing a rush of very young teachers. In chicago, 8-10 or more years veteran teachers are being pushed out of the system to make way for new teachers. School level or subject do not make any differnce. Salary is based on education and experience only. Lot of charters popping up under the unoin.
I’m on a serious mission collegues! I teach and reside in Boise, Idaho. I have a BA in Marketing and teaching certificate with 20 extra Early Childhood components, but am most certainly NOT making this “AVERAGE” teaching salary amount that’s posted! We do have a Union, but our voices are still not being heard where it really counts; to those who continue making these regulations for us but haven’t stepped foot in a classroom in years! I make $31,000 a year. Not bad, but I’m a single mother and have almost $1,000 out of my check each month….needless to say I work for benefits and also have a second job at night. This week alone I pawn my daughter off three nights in a row right after school to cocktail and serve. Hit the bed around 12:30 and rise at 5:30 to do it all over again! Mind you, I did not start at this pay. It was $26,000 and I’ve had to take extra classes for credit (that I paid for to move over on the pay scale to get more each month.) Sooo…back to my mission….. I’m collect input from every state…beginnnig salaries, administrator salaries, how many “classified” are in your school to help pull kids or in the classroom, aids, last raise, what your School District has done for your school lately, what your state department of ed. has done for your state lately, are there actual representatives of your state department that have even BEEN a teacher, do they help with professional development, what’s your pay scale consist of and how many credits before you can move over….you know, for them to tell us what we are worth, yet again.??? Help! I’m taking it all! Mission in Idaho!
You have all made excellent points. Just as with politics, the statistics can be made to lie. The salaries stated for educators ALWAYS include administrators and other higher paid employees.
As a high school administrator, in one of the best school systems in Georgia, I make $65K/year with 15 years experience. I am on a 220 day contract and usually work from 6 am to whenever the last sporting event is completed on campus and within 100 miles of the school (Usually home by 11 on game days).
It has been frustrating for me to place more and more pressure on my teachers to perform for less than 1% COLAs every year. I cannot in good conscience ask them fro more than they are already doing to help our kids without losing many of the younger teachers to attrition.
I have long been an opponent of NLCB and with the stress my wife has been under as a 5th grade teacher I am even more firm in my opposition to it. Save education; Save our Teachers!!!
I’m not a teacher and I don’t mean to sound mean or condescending but why do teachers stay in a profession that doesn’t pay a fair wage. For years I’ve heard teachers talking about the inconsistencies in wages between teachers in other states and teachers and the administration. I’m not a teacher (I’m an engineer) so I have a hard time understanding. I am on the outside looking in but have done some substitute teaching. I can say that some teachers earn everything they get paid and deserve more while some teachers really should look into another profession. With that bit of background information again I ask why teachers stay in a profession that pays so poorly?
Brad, there are a few reasons why teachers stay teachers. first, we love making a difference in kids lives. We an truly have an impact at a young age. Second, teachers have summers off and we get holidays off so we can spend time with our families. We also have decent health care depending on the district you are with. I can’t speak for all districts out there but my district pays pretty well and as a family with 2 kids we are doing fine financially.
Ryan
Brad, I don’t believe you were being mean or rude, your question is legit! However, as you stated yourself, “you do not know”. This, unfortunately, goes for many in our society today. This is my persepective. I spent five years to receive a Business degree and then realized my passion was with children. I chose to return and get my teaching certificate, but outside factors made this road way longer than anticipated. Needless to say my time in the required schooling and monies I spent to become a teacher is hard to just walk away from because of my love for children. Each morning when my class enters my room, I am not only responsible to “educate” them by the state standards and curriculum, I have now become a body guard, nurse, doctor, therapist, life skills and manners coach and in some cases a step-parent. Firedrills, lock-downs, evacuations, epi pens, cpr, crisis team are also part of our trainings. (Billy: not real name) One May morning I was met at the office by a Billy’s new Foster parent and Health and Welfare. Billy had finally returned to school after an episode the week before of “chicken pox”. Billy really returned after his father was arrested for beating Billy so badly with a belt on his back and buttocks he couldn’t move. He was not sent to school for fear WE would find out. Well, someone had previously. How long had Billy been living this way and hiding it? It wasn’t in his writings. Billy wasn’t at his grade level academically, but he knew he was in a safe haven, consistent accountability, warm meals, hugs and laughter. Do you honestly think Billy cared at all what he got on that test that day? Speaking of NCLB?!!! Billy knew he would be sent home again at the end of the day! Billy was seven years old!! Unfortunately, Ryan, your comment about summers and Holidays off are part of why teachers do get such a bad wrap. Those are fighting words for me when people comment on that. I am a single parent of two! I work another job because my salary doesn’t cut it. I work on Holidays and all summer long. Along with paying for and educating myself more by taking classes to move over on the payscale of my career! I also don’t have aids to help in the room and take my work home constantly. Bottom line…it’s absolutely disheartening that we value our educator’s so little when in fact they are helping form little minds to be that surgeon or pilot for your family someday!
Well colleagues, I am embarking on a journey as a Childhood Special Education Teacher and I am looking for the best place to start my teaching career. When i say the best place i mean in terms of opportunities and meeting new people who have the same philosophy that I have which is that “every child can learn” and that as teachers we have to do everything that we can do to make sure that they do learn. I also want a change from the environment i live in and I’m looking at places like connecticut and new jersey etc. Viewing this site has provided me with many oppportunities and i look forward to learning more…thanks..
A teacher to Heart…
Teahers will always be under paid in the USA. Government control causes the problems in all public schools. Plus paying to many poor adminstrators 85k in Alaska for doing very little and they only need 3 years as a teacher and a masters to become leaders in Education. This makes for very poor leaders which results in poor schools.Like all states Alaska has to many poor leaders and very poor schools.
not here in michigan when a teacher makes $448 a day and that is for 10 months not including the district paying for there benefits
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