The average salary for a public school teacher in the U.S. rose to $74,495 in the last school year, up 3.5% from the year before. But adjusted for inflation, today's teachers are estimated to be earning less, not more, than they were in 2017. That's according to a new review of school-related data from the National Education Association (NEA), the nation's largest teachers union with 3 million members.
The annual release includes the latest data — collected directly from state departments of education – on teacher and support staff salaries, student enrollment and even how much money schools are getting from federal, state and local sources.
Here are some of the most interesting findings:
- $74,495 — The national average public school teacher salaryAccording to this new data, roughly 3.2 million teachers worked in U.S. public schools during the last school year, and, on average, they earned around $74,500 — not including benefits.
The report breaks down teacher salaries by state and region, too. At the top of the rankings for 2024-25 are California ($103,552), New York ($98,655) and Washington ($96,589) while Mississippi ($54,975), Florida ($56,663) and Louisiana ($56,785) round out the low end.
These data come with an important caveat, though: They have not been adjusted for differences in the cost of living, which can vary greatly from ZIP code to ZIP code and could reasonably account for at least some of the gap in salaries.
- Inflation's effect on teacher pay
NEA researchers used state department of education projections — or, when necessary, arrived at their own projections — to estimate teacher salary averages for 2026, then compared those estimates to salaries from 2017. At first glance, pay appears to have risen across the decade (in current dollars). But after adjusting for inflation, the researchers estimate that teachers' real earnings have actually declined by nearly 5%.
"Dedicated educators show up every day in classrooms across this country to inspire, support, and lift up their students, but too many are struggling to stay in the profession they love," NEA President Becky Pringle said in a press release. "They deserve pay that reflects their expertise, the strong support they need to succeed, and the respect that honors the essential role they play in shaping the future of this nation."
Of the 11 states that have seen an inflation-adjusted increase in teacher pay since 2017, one stands out, eclipsing the others. In Washington, teacher pay increased 36%. Why? Because the state's supreme court put the state on notice, including imposing a $100,000-a-day fine, that it needed to do more to fund and support its public schools.
- $48,112 — The average salary for new teachers
In 2024-25, the average salary nationally for new teachers jumped 3.4%, according to NEA's report, but "after accounting for inflation, real salary growth was below 1%."
The states with the highest average starting salaries: District of Columbia ($64,640), Washington ($60,658), California ($59,424), New Jersey ($58,727) and Utah ($57,849).
The states with the lowest starting salaries: Montana ($36,682), Nebraska ($39,561), Missouri ($40,682), Oklahoma ($41,294) and Kentucky ($41,901).
Though again, this data has not been adjusted for regional differences in cost of living.
- $36,360 — Average salary for K-12 public school support staff
These are the folks who keep the nation's public schools running without being directly involved in instruction — custodians, cafeteria workers, paraeducators, bus drivers and security staff.
That $36,360 average salary for support staff in 2024-25 is a $1,400 increase over the previous year, though, again, the inflation-adjusted long view tells a different story. Compared to 2016 salaries, researchers estimate public school support staff have seen a drop in pay of $2,344.
- The collective bargaining effect
According to the new report, "states with collective bargaining laws have higher average starting and top salaries than states without them." How much higher? Starting salaries are $366 higher, on average, while top salaries are $15,105 higher.
The data also suggest a wage bump for school support staff, who earn 13% more in states that allow collective bargaining. According to NEA, the vast majority of school districts – over 80% – sit in states with some kind of collective-bargaining law, and only seven states expressly prohibit bargaining for teachers.
While there is clearly a correlation, or a connection, between salary and collective bargaining, there is not enough fine-grain data to draw a direct, causal link between the two.
It's also worth noting an exception: While South Carolina does not have a collective-bargaining law, state lawmakers agreed to an 11% increase in pay for starting teachers last year.
- Student enrollment is slowly declining
Much has been made in recent years of a nationwide "enrollment cliff" stemming from fewer Americans choosing to have children around the time of the Great Recession. The new reports offer additional evidence of the cliff.
At the beginning of the 2024-25 school year, public schools enrolled nearly 49 million students. That's a 0.3% drop from the previous fall. But, when viewed through a longer lens, enrollment has fallen by roughly 3.6% since 2016.
What's more, as part of NEA's new release, researchers estimate that enrollment dipped another 1% just between last year and the current school year.
- Schools enrolled an average of 15.1 students per teacher.
This student-to-teacher ratio held steady between the 2023-24 and 2024-25 school years, though state-by-state averages revealed considerable variation. Arizona, Nevada and Utah, for example, averaged roughly 22 students per teacher, while Vermont, New York, and the District of Columbia all averaged between 10 and 11 students per teacher.
- How school funding really works
President Donald Trump continues his efforts to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education in the name of "returning education to the states," yet this new tranche of data shows just how small the federal footprint is already. Federal dollars — largely focused on helping schools mitigate the effects of student poverty and paying for special education services — accounted for 7.8% of schools' total revenue during the last school year.
Where do schools actually get their money?
The data shows that, for 2025, 47% of public schools' funding came from state governments and roughly 45% from local governments, including local property taxes. NEA researchers also estimate the federal share of school funding dipped to 7.3% this year.
That federal share has diminished in part because of the winding down of federal COVID-19 relief to public schools. Some states spent those dollars more quickly than others.
Of the states where federal support is still estimated to make up 10% or more of schools' funding, most are Republican-controlled: Kentucky (17.5%), Alaska (16.5), New Mexico (14.1), Louisiana (14.1), Arkansas (13), South Dakota (12.4), West Virginia (11.9), Mississippi (11.8), Montana (11.4), South Carolina (10.8), Tennessee (10.6), Alabama (10.3), Arizona (10.3) and Florida (10.2).
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