The average public school teacher in the US earns an estimated $76,552 in 2025-26, according to NEA Research. That is up 2.8 percent from $74,495 the year before, and up 28.2 percent from $59,722 in 2016-17.
Prices rose faster. After inflation, the national average is 4.6 percent lower than it was in 2016-17. Teachers in 39 states and the District of Columbia are paid less in real terms than they were then. In 11 states, pay grew faster than prices.
California pays the most, an estimated $105,726. New York ($100,367), Washington ($99,649), the District of Columbia ($96,971), and Massachusetts ($96,165) follow. Mississippi pays the least, $56,504, behind Louisiana ($57,660), Florida ($58,069), West Virginia ($58,281), and Missouri ($59,534). The California average is $49,222 above Mississippi's.
North Carolina is the only state where NEA estimates the average went down in 2025-26, from $60,323 to $59,971. Texas posted the largest one-year raise, 6.7 percent, to $68,001.
Over the full stretch since 2016-17, Washington stands apart. Its average rose 83.1 percent, or 36.2 percent after inflation. Utah (15.4 percent after inflation), New Mexico (12.2 percent), and Colorado (7.4 percent) had the next largest real gains. Louisiana teachers lost the most buying power, 13.9 percent, followed by Wyoming (13.2 percent) and Michigan (12.7 percent).
New teachers start lower. The average starting salary in 2024-25, for a teacher with a bachelor's degree and no experience, was $48,112, NEA's survey of district salary schedules found. The District of Columbia starts teachers highest at $64,640, then Washington ($60,658), California ($59,424), New Jersey ($58,727), and Utah ($57,849). Montana starts the lowest at $36,682, followed by Nebraska ($39,561), Missouri ($40,682), Oklahoma ($41,294), and Kentucky ($41,901).
Starting pay and average pay do not always rank together. Florida ranks 49th for average salary but 19th for starting salary, and Arkansas 45th and 16th. Michigan runs the other way, 21st on average pay and 45th on starting pay, as does Ohio, 24th and 46th.
Pay is one part of the staffing picture. In 43 states and Puerto Rico, schools reported about 40,000 more teachers in 2024-25 than in 2017-18 while losing 2 million students; see teacher staffing since 2017. School-level ratios are ranked in lowest and highest student-teacher ratios.
Sources and method
Average salaries come from NEA Research, Rankings of the States 2025 and Estimates of School Statistics 2026, August 2026 update, which NEA compiles from state departments of education. The 2024-25 figures are from Table B-6 and the 2025-26 estimates and changes since 2016-17 from Table E-6. NEA estimated the 2024-25 averages for Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Montana, and Rhode Island. The inflation-adjusted change is NEA's constant-dollar figure, based on the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers.
Starting salaries come from NEA's 2024-2025 Teacher Salary Benchmark Report, Table ST-1, which averages the starting step of salary schedules from nearly 12,000 school districts. Starting salary is the pay for a teacher with a bachelor's degree and no prior experience.