Rankings & Estimates
NEA Research collects, maintains, and analyzes data on issues and trends affecting the nation’s public education systems, their employees, and students.
This report, Rankings of the States 2022 and Estimates of School Statistics 2023, contains data primarily based on information from state departments of education.
Key Findings
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Enrollment and Attendance
- In fall 2021, U.S. public schools enrolled 48, 867, 123 students, a decrease of less than 0.1% from fall 2020.
- The largest increases occurred in Montana (2.5%), Vermont (1.9%), and South Carolina (1.9%). The greatest declines were in Hawaii (−1.9%), California (−1.8%), and New York (−1.5%).
- The number of students in average daily attendance (ADA) increased by 0.6 percent nationwide, from 45,412,448 in 2020-21 to 45,664,289 in 2021-22.
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Classroom Teachers
- U.S. public schools employed 3, 192, 475 teachers in 2021-22. Texas (369, 762), California (270, 867), and New York (215, 092) employed the most teachers, while Alaska (7, 145), Wyoming (7, 203), and the District of Columbia (7, 829) employed the fewest.
- The average number of students enrolled per teacher decreased 0.5 percent from 15.4 in 2020-21 to 15.3 in 2021-22. States with the highest number of students enrolled per teacher in fall 2021 were Nevada (22.9), Utah (22.6), and Arizona (22.4).
- States with the lowest student-teacher ratios in fall 2021 were Vermont (10.2), New Hampshire (10.3), and North Dakota (11.0).
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Teacher Salary
- The national average public school teacher salary for 2021-22 was $66,745. State average teacher salaries ranged from those in New York ($91, 097), Massachusetts ($89, 538), and California ($88, 508) at the high end to Mississippi ($47, 902), West Virginia ($50, 315), and South Dakota ($50, 592) at the low end.
- The national average one-year change in public school teacher salaries from 2020-21 to 2021-22 was 2.0 percent. Salaries declined in four states: Hawaii (−5.5%), Minnesota (−3.6%), New Mexico (−1.2%), and Nevada (−0.6%). The largest one-year increase was in Arizona (5.3%).
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School Revenue
- State funds constituted 46.2 percent of public school revenue in 2020-21 and 44.3 percent in 2021-22. Local funds’ share of K-12 education revenue declined from 44.2 percent in 2020-21 to 42.5 percent in 2021-22.
- The influx of federal COVID relief funds resulted in an increase in the percentage of federal funding from 9.6 percent in 2020-21 to 13.2 percent in 2021-22.
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Expenditures per Student
- The national average per-student expenditure in 2021-22 based on fall enrollment was $15, 368, a gain of 5.9 percent from $14, 512 in 2020-21.
- The following states had the highest per-student expenditures: New York ($28, 963), the District of Columbia ($26, 786), and Vermont ($25, 053).
- Idaho ($9, 046), Utah ($9, 618), and Arizona ($10, 186) had the lowest per-student expenditures
Average Teacher Salary Data
| State | Salary 2020-21 | Rank 2020-21 | Salary 2021-22 | Rank 2021-22 | 2020-21 to 2021-22 Percent Change | 2020-21 to 2021-22 Change Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | $54,271 | 35 | $55,834 | 33 | 2.9% | 9 |
| Alaska | $72,715 | 10 | $74,167 | 10 | 2.0% | 25 |
| Arizona | $53,924 | 37 | $56,775 | 32 | 5.3% | 1 |
| Arkansas | $51,668 | 46 | $52,610 | 46 | 1.8% | 26 |
| California | $85,856 | 3 | $88,508 | 3 | 3.1% | 6 |
| Colorado | $58,183 | 26 | $60,130 | 25 | 3.4% | 5 |
| Connecticut | $79,742 | 5 | $81,185 | 6 | 1.8% | 27 |
| Delaware | $65,141 | 16 | $65,647 | 15 | 0.8% | 42 |
| District of Columbia | $80,659 | 4 | $82,523 | 4 | 2.3% | 20 |
| Florida | $51,009 | 48 | $51,230 | 48 | 0.4% | 44 |
| Georgia | $60,553 | 21 | $62,240 | 21 | 2.8% | 12 |
| Hawaii | $70,922 | 12 | $67,000 | 14 | -5.5% | 51 |
| Idaho | $51,817 | 45 | $54,232 | 42 | 4.7% | 3 |
| Illinois | $70,653 | 13 | $72,315 | 12 | 2.4% | 19 |
| Indiana | $53,072 | 42 | $54,596 | 39 | 2.9% | 10 |
| Iowa | $58,831 | 24 | $59,581 | 27 | 1.3% | 34 |
| Kansas | $53,619 | 38 | $54,988 | 35 | 2.6% | 17 |
| Kentucky | $54,139 | 36 | $54,574 | 40 | 0.8% | 40 |
| Louisiana | $52,532 | 44 | $54,097 | 43 | 3.0% | 8 |
| Maine | $57,167 | 30 | $58,757 | 29 | 2.8% | 13 |
| Maryland | $74,006 | 9 | $75,766 | 9 | 2.4% | 18 |
| Massachusetts | $87,108 | 2 | $89,538 | 2 | 2.8% | 11 |
| Michigan | $64,262 | 17 | $64,884 | 16 | 1.0% | 38 |
| Minnesota | $66,561 | 15 | $64,184 | 18 | -3.6% | 50 |
| Mississippi | $46,862 | 51 | $47,902 | 51 | 2.2% | 21 |
| Missouri | $51,557 | 47 | $52,481 | 47 | 1.8% | 28 |
| Montana | $53,133 | 41 | $53,628 | 44 | 0.9% | 39 |
| Nebraska | $56,463 | 31 | $57,420 | 31 | 1.7% | 31 |
| Nevada | $58,167 | 27 | $57,804 | 30 | -0.6% | 48 |
| New Hampshire | $61,849 | 20 | $62,783 | 20 | 1.5% | 33 |
| New Jersey | $77,677 | 7 | $79,045 | 7 | 1.8% | 30 |
| New Mexico | $54,923 | 32 | $54,272 | 41 | -1.2% | 49 |
| New York | $91,034 | 1 | $91,097 | 1 | 0.1% | 47 |
| North Carolina | $53,458 | 39 | $54,863 | 36 | 2.6% | 16 |
| North Dakota | $54,755 | 34 | $55,666 | 34 | 1.7% | 32 |
| Ohio | $63,082 | 18 | $64,353 | 17 | 2.0% | 24 |
| Oklahoma | $54,762 | 33 | $54,804 | 38 | 0.1% | 46 |
| Oregon | $68,565 | 14 | $70,402 | 13 | 2.7% | 14 |
| Pennsylvania | $71,787 | 11 | $73,072 | 11 | 1.8% | 29 |
| Rhode Island | $75,966 | 8 | $76,852 | 8 | 1.2% | 36 |
| South Carolina | $53,185 | 40 | $54,814 | 37 | 3.1% | 7 |
| South Dakota | $49,547 | 50 | $50,592 | 49 | 2.1% | 23 |
| Tennessee | $52,871 | 43 | $53,285 | 45 | 0.8% | 41 |
| Texas | $57,641 | 28 | $58,887 | 28 | 2.2% | 22 |
| Utah | $57,226 | 29 | $59,671 | 26 | 4.3% | 4 |
| Vermont | $62,483 | 19 | $62,866 | 19 | 0.6% | 43 |
| Virginia | $58,506 | 25 | $61,367 | 22 | 4.9% | 2 |
| Washington | $79,388 | 6 | $81,510 | 5 | 2.7% | 15 |
| West Virginia | $50,261 | 49 | $50,315 | 50 | 0.1% | 45 |
| Wisconsin | $59,992 | 23 | $60,724 | 24 | 1.2% | 35 |
| Wyoming | $60,234 | 22 | $60,819 | 23 | 1.0% | 37 |
| United States | $65,456 | $66,745 | 2.0% |
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Teacher Pay & Per Student Spending 2023
NEA’s Rankings and Estimates report provides a wide array of public K-12 education statistics and includes the average teacher salary by state and nationally.
Download the Report (pdf)
