Key Takeaways
- Despite modest gains, average teacher salaries in most states have failed to keep up with inflation over the past decade.
- The largest one-year increases were in Nevada (11.8%), the District of Columbia (9.7%), and Delaware (7.6%).
- Teachers earn 24% more, on average, in states with collective bargaining.
$74,495
National Average Teacher Salary
3.5%
increase from the previous year
Ranking & Estimates
Rankings of the States and Estimates of School Statistics (Rankings & Estimates) is an annual report that NEA’s Research Department has published in some form since the 1940s.
The report consists of three sections of education and financial data including average teacher salaries, enrollment, student-teacher ratios, and revenues and expenditures:
- Rankings: state comparisons for the previous two years;
- Estimates: projections by state for the current school year compared with the previous year; and
- National Trends: summary data for the United States for the past 10 years.
NEA collects the data for Rankings & Estimates from state departments of education through an annual survey, supplemented by data from state affiliates and public federal and state datasets.
Highlights
1
2
3
4
5
1
Teacher Salary
- The national average public school teacher salary for 2024-25 was $74,495.
- State average teacher salaries ranged from those in California ($103,552), New York ($98,655), and Washington ($96,589) at the high end to Mississippi ($54,975), Florida ($56,663), and Louisiana ($56,785) at the low end.
- The national average one-year change in public school teacher salaries from 2023-24 to 2024-25 was 3.5%. The largest one-year increases were in Nevada (11.8%), the District of Columbia (9.7%), and Delaware (7.6%).
2
Enrollment and Attendance
- In fall 2024, U.S. public schools enrolled 48,836,735 students, a decrease of 0.3% from fall 2023.
- The largest increases occurred in the District of Columbia (1.5%), Arkansas (0.8%), and Minnesota (0.8%). The greatest declines were in Montana (-2.7%), New York (-1.8%), and West Virginia (-1.6%).
- The number of students in average daily attendance (ADA) increased by 0.1% nationwide, from 44,881,434 in 2023-24 to 44,924,490 in 2024-25.
3
Classroom Teachers
- U.S. public schools employed 3,231,992 teachers in 2024-25. Texas (369,791), California (270,067), and New York (218,424) employed the most teachers, while Alaska (6,680), Wyoming (7,311), and Vermont (7,882) employed the fewest.
- The average number of students enrolled per teacher remained at 15.1 from 2023-24 to 2024-25.
- States with the highest number of students enrolled per teacher in fall 2024 were Arizona (22.3), Nevada (22.2), and Utah (21.9). States with the lowest student-teacher ratios in fall 2024 were Vermont (10.3), New York (10.8), and the District of Columbia (10.9).
4
School Revenue
- The federal share of school revenue declined to 7.8% of total revenue receipts in 2024-25, due to the winding down of federal COVID relief funds.
- Correspondingly, shares of state and local funding in 2024-25 increased to 47.1% and 45.1%, respectively.
5
Expenditures per Student
- The national average per-student expenditure in 2024-25 based on fall enrollment was $17,840, a gain of 3.4% from $17,250 in 2023-24.
- The highest per-student expenditures were: New York ($32,370), the District of Columbia ($30,564), and Vermont ($29,534). Idaho ($11,578), Tennessee ($11,723), and Arizona ($11,987) had the lowest per-student expenditures.
Gains in Teacher Pay May Not be Enough to Ease Shortages
Despite record-level salary increases in some states, average teacher pay has failed to keep up with inflation.
Average Teacher Salary
| State | Salary ($) 2023-24 | Rank 2023-24 | Salary ($) 2024-25 | Rank 2024-25 | 2023-24 to 2024-25 Percent Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | 61,912 | 33 | 62,985 | 35 | 1.7 |
| Alaska | 78,256 | 10 | 81,450 | 11 | 4.1 |
| Arizona | 62,714 | 29 | 64,291 | 31 | 2.5 |
| Arkansas | 58,337 | 41 | 59,193 | 45 | 1.5 |
| California | 101,084 | 1 | 103,552 | 1 | 2.4 |
| Colorado | 68,647 | 20 | 72,781 | 19 | 6.0 |
| Connecticut | 86,511 | 6 | 89,593 | 6 | 3.6 |
| Delaware | 71,186 | 16 | 76,570 | 14 | 7.6 |
| District of Columbia | 86,663 | 5 | 95,077 | 4 | 9.7 |
| Florida | 54,875 | 50 | 56,663 | 50 | 3.3 |
| Georgia | 67,641 | 23 | 71,524 | 21 | 5.7 |
| Hawaii | 74,222 | 14 | 75,860 | 16 | 2.2 |
| Idaho | 61,516 | 34 | 62,786 | 36 | 2.1 |
| Illinois | 75,978 | 13 | 78,495 | 13 | 3.3 |
| Indiana | 58,620 | 38 | 61,661 | 38 | 5.2 |
| Iowa | 62,399 | 32 | 65,312 | 30 | 4.7 |
| Kansas | 58,276 | 44 | 61,470 | 39 | 5.5 |
| Kentucky | 58,325 | 42 | 60,594 | 42 | 3.9 |
| Louisiana | 55,911 | 47 | 56,785 | 49 | 1.6 |
| Maine | 62,569 | 30 | 65,621 | 29 | 4.9 |
| Maryland | 84,338 | 7 | 87,409 | 7 | 3.6 |
| Massachusetts | 91,014 | 4 | 93,554 | 5 | 2.8 |
| Michigan | 69,068 | 19 | 71,023 | 22 | 2.8 |
| Minnesota | 72,430 | 15 | 76,234 | 15 | 5.3 |
| Mississippi | 53,704 | 51 | 54,975 | 51 | 2.4 |
| Missouri | 55,132 | 49 | 57,366 | 48 | 4.1 |
| Montana | 57,556 | 45 | 59,305 | 44 | 3.0 |
| Nebraska | 60,239 | 37 | 63,326 | 34 | 5.1 |
| Nevada | 66,930 | 25 | 74,812 | 17 | 11.8 |
| New Hampshire | 67,170 | 24 | 69,432 | 25 | 3.4 |
| New Jersey | 82,877 | 8 | 84,974 | 9 | 2.5 |
| New Mexico | 68,440 | 21 | 69,736 | 24 | 1.9 |
| New York | 95,615 | 2 | 98,655 | 2 | 3.2 |
| North Carolina | 58,292 | 43 | 60,323 | 43 | 3.5 |
| North Dakota | 58,581 | 40 | 60,704 | 41 | 3.6 |
| Ohio | 68,236 | 22 | 70,586 | 23 | 3.4 |
| Oklahoma | 61,330 | 35 | 61,931 | 37 | 1.0 |
| Oregon | 77,130 | 11 | 81,657 | 10 | 5.9 |
| Pennsylvania | 76,961 | 12 | 79,078 | 12 | 2.8 |
| Rhode Island | 82,189 | 9 | 85,772 | 8 | 4.4 |
| South Carolina | 60,763 | 36 | 64,050 | 32 | 5.4 |
| South Dakota | 56,328 | 46 | 58,486 | 46 | 3.8 |
| Tennessee | 58,610 | 39 | 61,222 | 40 | 4.5 |
| Texas | 62,463 | 31 | 63,749 | 33 | 2.1 |
| Utah | 69,161 | 18 | 72,882 | 18 | 5.4 |
| Vermont | 69,555 | 17 | 71,871 | 20 | 3.3 |
| Virginia | 66,327 | 26 | 69,254 | 26 | 4.4 |
| Washington | 91,720 | 3 | 96,589 | 3 | 5.3 |
| West Virginia | 55,300 | 48 | 58,099 | 47 | 5.1 |
| Wisconsin | 65,762 | 27 | 67,794 | 27 | 3.1 |
| Wyoming | 63,669 | 28 | 65,668 | 28 | 3.1 |
| United States | 71,985 | 74,495 | 3.5 |
Pop Quiz! Educator Pay 2026
Think you know about educator pay? Test your knowledge of NEA’s most recent Educator Pay Reports, based on data gathered from thousands of local school districts and education institutions.
Teacher Pay & Per Student Spending
NEA’s Rankings and Estimates report provides a wide array of K-12 education finance statistics, including national and state average teacher salaries.
Download the Report (pdf)
