Where is teacher pay highest?
Last year, the nationwide median annual wage for teachers — ranging from pre-K to high school — was about $65,100. For comparison, the median wage across all occupations in the US was about $51,000, or about 21.7% lower than the median wage for teachers. But, as any teacher would tell you, pay varies depending on grade level, state, and other factors. It’s back to school time, so let’s talk about the numbers.
- Preschool teachers earned the least of all educators nationwide, with an annual average of $56,800. High school teachers earned the most at around $72,300. Teachers of students with disabilities earned between 2% to 16% more than general education teachers at the same grade level.
- Median salaries for high school teachers ranged from $48,700 in Oklahoma to $102,700 in Washington state. Washington, DC, outpaced every state for preschool teacher pay at $97,400. Alabama had the lowest median at $34,100. You can view teacher pay in your state here.
- Adjusting for the cost of living provides a clearer sense of purchasing power—how far a teacher’s wages go in each state. After adjusting, elementary school teachers earn the most in Washington state ($98,600), California ($97,200), Massachusetts ($92,100), Rhode Island ($89,600), and New York ($85,300).
- The lowest-paid 10% of teachers at all levels typically earned $48,200 or less, while the highest-paid 10% earned $104,300 or more.
- Public school teachers out-earned their private school counterparts: $66,400 on average per year, compared to $59,700 for private school teachers.
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How many students eat free or reduced-price school lunch?
Data from the Agriculture Department shows that, in 2025, about 73.0% of the lunches served at public and nonprofit private schools participating in the National School Lunch Program were free or discounted. Those lunches fed 22.1 million students. Who’s eligible, and how does participation vary by state?
- Students from households at or below 130% of the poverty line qualify for free lunches from the National School Lunch Program. Students from households making between 130% and 185% of the poverty line qualify for reduced-price lunches.
- The number of students receiving subsidized lunches grew 4.8% from fiscal year 2023 to fiscal year 2025. Program participation grew the most in Colorado (up 29.1%), Michigan (up 16.4%), and Minnesota (up 12.9%).
- Data from the National Center for Education Statistics shows the rates at which state student bodies qualify for the program. In the 2022–2023 school year (the latest NCES data available), Mississippi had the largest percentage of eligible students (99.7%), followed by Nevada (81.5%) and New Mexico (75.2%). Montana (18.7%), New Hampshire (23.4%), and Delaware (25.2%) had the lowest percentages.
- In 2021, a pandemic waiver gave free meals to all students regardless of income, and 98.9% of all school lunches that year were at least partially subsidized. California, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico and Vermont passed legislation to extend free meals to all students, regardless of family income, after the waiver expired in June 2022.
Data behind the news
New US-imposed tariffs on Canada took effect last week. Canada responded with new tariffs on certain US goods, effective September 8. This new collection of charts helps explain US-Canada trade history.
The Trump administration issued an appeal Friday against a ruling that prevents limitations on mail voting before the midterm elections. The Supreme Court previously said the administration could move ahead with the executive order that directed the Postal Service to help determine which voters receive mail-in ballots. Voting laws, of course, differ by state, but we have data on how many voters cast ballots early and by mail.
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One last fact
Fewer teenagers are trying drugs or alcohol than they used to, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Rates of cigarette usage have fallen more than any other drug: in the 1990s, 70.1% of high schoolers tried smoking them. By 2023, 14.4% had. Alcohol usage fell from 50.8% of teens in 1991 to 22.1% in 2023.
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