Two teachers spend their break together and smile at the camera.

Starting Teacher Pay

NEA's Teacher Salary Benchmark Report provides information from nearly 12,000 school districts on starting teacher salaries and salaries at other points along the teaching career continuum.

Download the Report (pdf)

Key Takeaways

In 2024-2025, the average starting salary for teachers in the U.S. increased by 3.4% to $48,112. After adjusting for inflation, real starting salary growth was just 0.7%.
35% of school districts now offer a starting salary of at least $50,000, up from 30% last year.
In states with collective bargaining rights, starting and top salaries are higher. The average starting salary is $366 higher, and the average top salary is $15,105 higher.

$48,112

National Average Starting Teacher Salary

3.4%

National Average Increase from the Previous Year

Addressing the Pay Problem

Highlights

More school districts than ever pay starting salaries of at least $40,000. 10,303 districts (91% of districts surveyed) have starting teacher salaries of at least $40,000.

Three states with the highest average starting salaries—Washington, California, and New Jersey—have state collective bargaining laws and allow public sector workers, including teachers, to negotiate collective bargaining agreements.

31% of school districts offer a top salary of at least $96,000. Just 10% offer a top salary of at least $119,000.

Four states with the highest average top salaries—California, Washington, Maryland, and Massachusetts—have state collective bargaining laws.

The state with the lowest average top salary is Arkansas, which prohibits collective bargaining. Arkansas is the only state with an average top salary below $60,000.

Addressing Teacher Pay

Teacher salaries continue to fall further behind the pay of other college education professionals, widening the teacher pay gap. According to the Economic Policy Institute, teacher salaries are nearly 27% lower on average than the salaries of their similarly educated peers.

There has been significant progress in teacher pay, especially starting teacher pay, in some states, attributed to factors including successful collective bargaining and improvements to state minimum salaries or salary schedules. For example:

In Colorado, which does not have a state collective bargaining law, teachers can negotiate collective bargaining agreements with local school districts at the discretion of those districts, a practice known as “permissive bargaining.” The average starting teacher salary in Colorado increased by 7.2%, from $42,421 in 2023-2024 to $45,489 in 2024-2025. As a result, the state moved six places in the ranking of average starting salaries, improving from 41 to 35. According to NEA’s affiliate in the state, the Colorado Education Association (CEA), average starting pay in school districts with collective bargaining agreements has exceeded $50,000 for the first time, a prime example of just one of the many benefits of collective bargaining.

In South Carolina, which does not have a state collective bargaining law, the state raised the minimum teacher salary to $47,000 in 2024-2025, a 10.6% increase from $42,500 in 2023-2024. As a result, South Carolina’s average starting teacher salary increased by 8.4%, from $44,693 in 2023-2024 to $48,426 in 2024-2025. NEA’s affiliate in the state, The South Carolina Education Association, has advocated for improvements to teacher pay with state legislators and continues to lobby for improvements to teacher salaries across the full career span, from new teachers to experienced teachers.

The Union Advantage

Teachers in states with collective bargaining are paid 24% more on average than teachers in states with few or no collective bargaining rights.

Overall, collective bargaining rights benefit teachers, especially in the long term, as evidenced by the significant advantage in top salaries. Teachers who can engage in collective bargaining can earn higher salaries as they gain additional education and experience, which impacts their overall lifetime career earnings.

State	Starting Salary($)	Top Bachelor's($)	Starting Master's($)	Top Master's($)	Top Salary($)
Alabama	47,955	69,942	52,438	80,284	92,661
Alaska	53,650	69,803	59,803	85,359	95,903
Arizona	44,869	-	-	-	-
Arkansas	50,076	53,826	50,573	-	57,735
California	59,424	-	-	-	118,850
Colorado	45,489	59,059	45,491	67,083	81,181
Connecticut	51,053	-	55,517	96,907	103,069
Delaware	49,344	69,626	56,094	87,697	99,475
District Of Columbia	64,640	102,498	68,950	126,474	133,623
Federal	62,665	122,705	71,702	131,744	152,025
Florida	49,435	65,915	52,212	68,923	71,646
Georgia	48,722	69,741	54,237	78,417	95,385
Hawaii	51,835	76,058	55,982	82,143	97,943
Idaho	46,253	64,634	49,747	71,135	73,021
Illinois	46,655	67,975	51,140	84,049	93,877
Indiana	45,958	-	-	-	-
Iowa	48,139	-	-	-	80,003
Kansas	44,163	49,881	47,237	61,082	68,051
Kentucky	41,901	59,961	45,915	65,752	71,178
Louisiana	46,850	60,172	48,001	62,089	63,832
Maine	44,152	71,665	47,051	75,576	78,347
Maryland	57,293	77,413	60,456	100,257	108,829
Massachusetts	54,216	85,590	58,664	94,645	105,909
Michigan	43,093	-	-	79,417	-
Minnesota	46,477	62,847	52,339	75,673	81,445
Mississippi	43,814	63,929	45,420	69,562	75,034
Missouri	40,682	49,173	42,201	59,067	64,052
Montana	36,682	50,775	40,889	68,098	68,471
Nebraska	39,561	48,936	46,901	67,292	75,805
Nevada	49,731	64,777	57,139	82,287	94,933
New Hampshire	44,010	66,569	48,023	74,430	79,482
New Jersey	58,727	90,385	62,815	95,447	99,474
New Mexico	54,372	72,174	64,012	93,946	83,534
New York	51,612	83,504	56,549	95,948	102,551
North Carolina	44,952	61,344	49,448	67,483	70,257
North Dakota	45,252	68,076	49,160	-	72,730
Ohio	42,222	-	46,822	86,548	92,196
Oklahoma	41,294	59,445	42,740	61,507	63,952
Oregon	46,854	66,681	52,279	81,796	88,431
Pennsylvania	52,198	77,854	56,521	85,721	91,964
Rhode Island	48,242	91,750	51,620	93,523	97,458
South Carolina	48,426	67,501	53,001	75,065	89,123
South Dakota	47,196	62,664	51,805	64,135	-
Tennessee	47,230	62,241	50,889	67,348	75,942
Texas	49,465	67,781	53,444	70,873	69,404
Utah	57,849	82,453	62,484	95,334	100,465
Vermont	46,963	64,789	52,458	80,357	87,585
Virginia	50,448	79,322	53,510	83,060	85,329
Washington	60,658	72,874	71,533	105,687	117,425
West Virginia	45,294	66,571	48,123	69,395	73,243
Wisconsin	43,288	-	-	-	82,559
Wyoming	51,776	61,695	55,262	71,970	81,022
United States	48,112	67,802	51,775	79,581	87,331

State	Starting Salary 2024-2025 ($)	Starting Salary 2023-2024 ($)	Change (%)	2024-2025 Rank	2023-2024 Rank	Change
Alabama	47,955	44,632	7.40%	25	31	6
Alaska	53,650	52,451	2.30%	9	9	-
Arizona	44,869	46,128	-2.70%	39	23	-16
Arkansas	50,076	50,031	0.10%	16	14	-2
California	59,424	58,409	1.70%	3	2	-1
Colorado	45,489	42,421	7.20%	35	41	6
Connecticut	51,053	49,860	2.40%	14	15	1
Delaware	49,344	48,407	1.90%	20	19	-1
District Of Columbia	64,640	63,373	2.00%	1	1	-
Federal	62,665	59,652	5.10%	N/A	N/A	N/A
Florida	49,435	48,639	1.60%	19	17	-2
Georgia	48,722	43,654	11.60%	21	35	14
Hawaii	51,835	51,835	0.00%	11	10	-1
Idaho	46,253	45,732	1.10%	33	24	-9
Illinois	46,655	45,061	3.50%	31	26	-5
Indiana	45,958	45,007	2.10%	34	27	-7
Iowa	48,139	40,997	17.40%	24	46	22
Kansas	44,163	42,800	3.20%	40	36	-4
Kentucky	41,901	40,161	4.30%	47	48	1
Louisiana	46,850	46,682	0.40%	30	22	-8
Maine	44,152	42,380	4.20%	41	42	1
Maryland	57,293	54,439	5.20%	6	6	-
Massachusetts	54,216	52,616	3.00%	8	8	-
Michigan	43,093	41,645	3.50%	45	44	-1
Minnesota	46,477	44,993	3.30%	32	28	-4
Mississippi	43,814	42,492	3.10%	43	40	-3
Missouri	40,682	38,871	4.70%	49	49	-
Montana	36,682	35,674	2.80%	51	51	-
Nebraska	39,561	38,811	1.90%	50	50	-
Nevada	49,731	47,355	5.00%	17	20	3
New Hampshire	44,010	42,588	3.30%	42	38	-4
New Jersey	58,727	57,597	2.00%	4	4	-
New Mexico	54,372	53,400	1.80%	7	7	-
New York	51,612	50,063	3.10%	13	13	-
North Carolina	44,952	42,542	5.70%	38	39	1
North Dakota	45,252	43,734	3.50%	37	34	-3
Ohio	42,222	40,982	3.00%	46	47	1
Oklahoma	41,294	41,152	0.30%	48	45	-3
Oregon	46,854	44,446	5.40%	29	33	4
Pennsylvania	52,198	50,470	3.40%	10	11	1
Rhode Island	48,242	47,205	2.20%	23	21	-2
South Carolina	48,426	44,693	8.40%	22	30	8
South Dakota	47,196	45,530	3.70%	27	25	-2
Tennessee	47,230	44,897	5.20%	26	29	3
Texas	49,465	48,526	1.90%	18	18	-
Utah	57,849	55,711	3.80%	5	5	-
Vermont	46,963	44,533	5.50%	28	32	4
Virginia	50,448	48,666	3.70%	15	16	1
Washington	60,658	57,912	4.70%	2	3	1
West Virginia	45,294	42,708	6.10%	36	37	1
Wisconsin	43,288	42,259	2.40%	44	43	-1
Wyoming	51,776	50,214	3.10%	12	12	0
United States	48,112	46,526	3.40%

Teacher holds up book in front a class of students.

Teacher Pay & Per Student Spending

Starting Teacher Pay

Key Takeaways

Addressing the Pay Problem

Highlights

Addressing Teacher Pay

The Union Advantage

Average Teacher Salary Benchmarks

Average Starting Teacher Pay

References

Rankings & Estimates

Educator Pay Data 2026

Great public schools for every student

Suggested Results

Starting Teacher Pay

Key Takeaways

Addressing the Pay Problem

Section with embed

Highlights

Addressing Teacher Pay

The Union Advantage

Section with embed

References

Rankings & Estimates

Educator Pay Data 2026

Starting Teacher Pay

Great public schools for every student