High School Teachers salary in the US
Here is where pay for high school teachers stands nationally, built from Census microdata rather than job-board postings.
How much do high school teachers earn?
If you lined up all high school teachers by pay, the person in the middle would earn about $65,628 a year — 25% more than the $52,508 median for all US earners aged 25 and older. By median pay it lands 69th among 171 groups, in the upper half but not the top tier. The sample is 69,747 people aged 25 or older who listed this job and had earnings during the year.
| Position | Annual earnings |
|---|---|
| Top 10% start at | $107,537 |
| Top 25% start at | $85,541 |
| Median (top 50%) | $65,628 |
| Bottom 25% earn below | $48,881 |
How wide is the pay range?
Compared with many occupations the range is narrow: $85,541 reaches the top quarter and $107,537 the top tenth — just 1.6× the median. The bottom quarter earned under $48,881; that group includes people who worked part of the year or reduced hours, since every earner is counted. Put differently, the middle earner makes 1.3× what someone at the 25th percentile does.
Earnings by age
Earnings build steadily with age, from a median of $55,860 at 25–34 to $74,852 at 45–54 (+34%). Later on, earnings ease to $23,865 for workers 65+, a 68% step down that tracks the shift to part-time work.
Men and women
Men's median earnings are $68,216 and women's are $62,968, so women's median is 8% lower. Women account for around 58% of the records behind these figures. The comparison isn't like-for-like on hours or seniority, so read it as a description rather than a pay-equity measure.
| Group | Median earnings | Survey records |
|---|---|---|
| Men | $68,216 | 29,430 |
| Women | $62,968 | 40,317 |
Does education change the pay?
Workers with a doctorate ($75,456) earn 140% more than those with some college or an associate degree ($31,484). The largest group in the sample has a master's degree (36,596 records). Levels with fewer than 100 records are left out rather than estimated.
| Education | Median earnings | Survey records |
|---|---|---|
| High school or less | Not shown (<100 records) | 0 |
| Some college / associate | $31,484 | 2,628 |
| Bachelor's | $57,721 | 26,432 |
| Master's | $73,321 | 36,596 |
| Professional degree | $72,618 | 2,313 |
| Doctorate | $75,456 | 1,778 |
Where the most work, and what they earn there
Most of the sample comes from California, Texas, New York, Illinois, and Florida, the five states where this occupation is most common in the data. California pays best of the five ($85,281 median); Florida pays least ($55,860). No cost-of-living adjustment is applied. In all, 51 states clear the 100-record bar for a state-level median.
| State | Median earnings | Survey records |
|---|---|---|
| California | $85,281 | 6,925 |
| Texas | $63,961 | 6,705 |
| New York | $83,958 | 5,280 |
| Illinois | $72,094 | 3,240 |
| Florida | $55,860 | 3,069 |
Occupations with similar pay
Nearby on the pay scale are social and community service managers ($65,991), production supervisors ($67,007), transportation, storage, and distribution managers ($67,032), and claims adjusters, appraisers, examiners, and investigators ($67,032). Each of these takes a different path in, but a typical year's earnings lands in the same range.
| Occupation | Median earnings | vs. this job |
|---|---|---|
| Social And Community Service Managers | $65,991 | +1% |
| Production Supervisors | $67,007 | +2% |
| Transportation, Storage, And Distribution Managers | $67,032 | +2% |
| Claims Adjusters, Appraisers, Examiners, And Investigators | $67,032 | +2% |
| Radiologic Technologists And Technicians | $67,032 | +2% |
About these figures
How to read these numbers: they are annual personal earnings (wages plus self-employment income) for people aged 25+ who reported working as high school teachers, pooled over 2020–2024 and adjusted to 2024 dollars. Part-time and part-year workers are included. Every group shown has at least 100 survey records; 69,747 records sit behind the headline median.
See where your pay ranks among high school teachers
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Open the calculatorSource: US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2020–2024 5-Year Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS) — personal earnings (PERNP) in 2024 dollars, person-weighted
Reference statistics only — not financial advice.