from the Bureau of Labor Statistics
In May 2018, the median annual wage of the nation’s 1.4 million elementary school teachers (not including special education teachers) was $58,230. The lowest-paid 10 percent of elementary school teachers earned less than $37,780, while the highest-paid earned more than $95,270. The middle 50 percent of elementary school teachers earned between $46,120 and $75,330 per year.


The median wage for secondary school (high school) teachers, who numbered 1.1 million, was $60,320 in May 2018. The lowest-paid secondary school teachers had annual wages below $39,740 and the highest-paid earned more than $97,500. The middle 50 percent of secondary school teachers earned wages between $47,980 and $77,720 per year. (These estimates do not include special education or career/technical education teachers.)
Among metropolitan areas, median annual earnings of elementary school teachers were lowest, near $39,000, in metropolitan areas in Arizona, Oklahoma, North Carolina, Idaho, and Florida. Elementary school teachers had the highest median annual wages, over $80,000, in metropolitan areas in California, Oregon, Massachusetts, and New York.
These data are from the Occupational Employment Statistics program. See “Occupational Employment and Wages – May 2018” to learn more. The median wage, or the 50th percentile wage, is the midpoint of a wage distribution from lowest to highest; half of the employees in a given occupation earn less, and half earn more, than the median wage. Similarly, 25 percent of employees earn less, and the remaining 75 percent earn more, than the 25th percentile wage.
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