A Glimpse into Teacher Pay Nationwide

Teachers around the nation are seeing an average of a 2.6 percent increase in pay according to the National Education Association (NEA), but when adjusted for inflation, teachers are making less than they did 10 years ago.

The teaching profession is plagued with chronically low pay, but there are bipartisan efforts to raise teacher pay this year. On the national level, the Pay Teachers Act has been proposed to Congress and a similar bill has been filed in the House proposing a raise of public-school teachers’ base pay to $60,000. The NEA says there is a long way to go; the national average for starting pay was $42,845 last school year.

Despite employing more teachers than any other state, the average Texas teacher salary falls more than $7,700 short of the national average. While Texas teacher starting salaries are $2,648 above the national average, the average top salary in Texas is more than $13,000 below the national average top salary.

Additional findings include:

• The national average for teacher pay is $68,469.
• Inflation has outpaced teacher pay increases over the last decade.
• Texas is 28th in average teacher salary nationwide.
• Seventeen percent of school districts pay less than $60,000 for their top salary.

More information can be found in the EdWeek article How Much Do Teachers Get Paid? See the New State-by-State Data and in the KUT article New Data Show Teacher Salaries in Texas are More Than $7,700 Lower Than the National Average.

The full 2023 NEA Rankings and Estimates report is available for download via the NEA website.