US states by secondary school teacher mean annual wage

California had the highest secondary school teacher mean annual wage of 51 states in 2022, at $92,960. South Dakota had the lowest, at $49,190. The median was $62,500 and the figure for the United States was $69,480. Source: the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Highest92,960California

Lowest49,190South Dakota

Median62,50051 states

United States69,480History

Map of states, 2022

Under 55K
55K to 59K
59K to 63K
63K to 68K
68K to 75K
75K and over

USD, 2022. Source: BLS, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May estimates, state cross-industry file: annual mean wage, secondary school teachers except special and career or technical education (25-2031). Boundaries: U.S. Census Bureau cartographic boundary files.

All states, 2022

USD. Source: BLS, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May estimates, state cross-industry file: annual mean wage, secondary school teachers except special and career or technical education (25-2031). Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Full ranking

Rank	States	2022 USD	Change on 2021
1	California	92,960	-1.7%
2	New York	91,290	-1.5%
3	Washington	88,530	+3.8%
4	Massachusetts	82,960	-2.8%
5	Connecticut	80,230	+0.9%
6	Oregon	79,780	+4.8%
7	New Jersey	79,460	+0.3%
8	District of Columbia	76,540	-1.6%
9	Alaska	74,870	+1.5%
10	Rhode Island	74,640	+3.3%
11	Virginia	74,120	-3%
12	Pennsylvania	73,810	0%
13	Maryland	73,730	-2.8%
14	Illinois	72,480	+1.1%
15	Ohio	70,320	-1.2%
16	Delaware	68,810	0%
17	New Hampshire	68,250	+3.8%
18	Georgia	67,520	-2.8%
19	Michigan	66,840	+5.9%
20	Nevada	66,620	+7.8%
21	Utah	66,290	+3%
22	Minnesota	64,500	+0.8%
23	Wyoming	63,730	-0.1%
24	Florida	63,470	-1%
25	Colorado	62,730	+1.2%
26	New Mexico	62,500	+2.8%
26	Wisconsin	62,500	+1.7%
28	Vermont	62,320	-4%
29	Texas	61,210	+1.2%
30	Hawaii	60,790	-6.3%
31	Iowa	60,490	+4.5%
32	Nebraska	60,250	-4.9%
33	Arizona	59,490	+7.8%
34	Maine	59,260	+3%
35	Indiana	58,690	+6.2%
36	Kentucky	58,160	+1.5%
37	Idaho	57,780	+7.4%
38	Kansas	56,590	+0.5%
39	North Dakota	56,510	+0.7%
40	Missouri	56,270	+15.1%
41	Tennessee	55,920	-0.6%
42	South Carolina	55,680	-0.8%
43	Alabama	55,050	+0.8%
44	Oklahoma	54,810	-2%
45	Montana	54,630	+1.8%
46	Louisiana	54,300	+0.6%
47	Arkansas	53,080	-0.9%
48	North Carolina	51,570	-1.4%
49	West Virginia	50,770	-5.2%
50	Mississippi	49,770	+3.6%
51	South Dakota	49,190	+1.2%

Other periods

About this ranking

Average (mean) annual wage of secondary school teachers, except special and career or technical education (Standard Occupational Classification 25-2031), in US dollars, from the Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) survey of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Public and private high schools. Estimates refer to May of each year.

Teachers report an annual salary for the school year, so BLS publishes no hourly rate for them. Excludes special education, career and technical education and middle school teachers. Up to May 2009 the occupation was defined under the 2000 classification, which excluded vocational education teachers. Pay is straight-time gross pay: base rate, cost-of-living allowances, commissions, production bonuses and tips. Overtime, shift differentials, nonproduction bonuses and employer-paid benefits are excluded.

Every value in the ranking comes from the same publisher and the same period, so the states are compared on one definition. Equal values share a rank.

How to cite

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May estimates, state cross-industry file: annual mean wage, secondary school teachers except special and career or technical education (25-2031). https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm22st.zip. Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Citation styles

The publisher is the author. Invokely is named only as the place the figures were read, where a style asks for it.

APA 7

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2026). Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May estimates, state cross-industry file: annual mean wage, secondary school teachers except special and career or technical education (25-2031) (US states by secondary school teacher mean annual wage, 2022) [Data set]. Retrieved October 12, 2026, from https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm22st.zip

MLA 9

Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May estimates, state cross-industry file: annual mean wage, secondary school teachers except special and career or technical education (25-2031), US states by secondary school teacher mean annual wage, 2022. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 15 May 2026, https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm22st.zip. Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/secondary-teacher-salary/us-states?period=2022. Accessed 12 Oct. 2026.

Chicago (author-date)

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. 2026. Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May estimates, state cross-industry file: annual mean wage, secondary school teachers except special and career or technical education (25-2031). US states by secondary school teacher mean annual wage, 2022. Dataset. Accessed October 12, 2026. https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm22st.zip. Also distributed by Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/secondary-teacher-salary/us-states?period=2022.

Harvard

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (2026) Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May estimates, state cross-industry file: annual mean wage, secondary school teachers except special and career or technical education (25-2031), US states by secondary school teacher mean annual wage, 2022 [Dataset]. Available at: https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm22st.zip, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/secondary-teacher-salary/us-states?period=2022 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX

@misc{bureau_us_states_by_secondary_2022,
  author = {{U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics}},
  title = {{Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May estimates, state cross-industry file: annual mean wage, secondary school teachers except special and career or technical education (25-2031): US states by secondary school teacher mean annual wage, 2022}},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {Data set},
  url = {https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm22st.zip},
  urldate = {2026-10-12},
  note = {Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/secondary-teacher-salary/us-states?period=2022. Publisher attribution: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May estimates, state cross-industry file: annual mean wage, secondary school teachers except special and career or technical education (25-2031). https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm22st.zip. Retrieved 2026-10-12.},
}

RIS

TY  - DATA
AU  - U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
TI  - Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May estimates, state cross-industry file: annual mean wage, secondary school teachers except special and career or technical education (25-2031): US states by secondary school teacher mean annual wage, 2022
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/05/15
PB  - U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
DB  - Invokely
UR  - https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm22st.zip
L2  - https://invokely.ai/rankings/secondary-teacher-salary/us-states?period=2022
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/secondary-teacher-salary/us-states?period=2022.
N1  - Publisher attribution: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May estimates, state cross-industry file: annual mean wage, secondary school teachers except special and career or technical education (25-2031). https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm22st.zip. Retrieved 2026-10-12.
ER  -

Embed this chart

Paste this code into a web page or a blog post. The chart shows the latest figures as they are published, with the source and a link back to this page.

Embed code

<iframe src="https://invokely.ai/embed/rankings/secondary-teacher-salary/us-states?period=2022" width="760" height="500" title="US states by secondary school teacher mean annual wage, 2022, chart from Invokely" loading="lazy" style="border:0;width:100%;max-width:760px" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin"></iframe>

Sites that read oEmbed links, such as WordPress, can show the chart when you paste the link to this page.

Use this data in your AI agent

Invokely serves this figure to AI assistants through MCP and to code through a REST API, with the source and citation attached. Ask your assistant:

Rank US states by secondary school teacher mean annual wage using official data, and cite the source.

rank_places {"indicator":"teacher_annual_mean_wage_secondary","level":"region","within":"United States","limit":10}
GET https://invokely.ai/api/v1/rank?indicator=teacher_annual_mean_wage_secondary&level=region&within=United%20States&limit=10

Connect Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor in one step. The trial answers 25 calls a day without an account.

Questions

Which state has the highest secondary school teacher mean annual wage?

California, with $92,960 in 2022, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Which state has the lowest secondary school teacher mean annual wage?

South Dakota, with $49,190 in 2022.

Where does this ranking come from?

Every value comes from one source and one period, so the places are comparable: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May estimates, state cross-industry file: annual mean wage, secondary school teachers except special and career or technical education (25-2031). Retrieved 2026-10-12.