The Cities With the Highest- and Lowest-Paid Elementary School Teachers in 2019

Update: Click here for our updated elementary school salary report for 2024

Teaching can be a very stressful job, and depending on where you are in the country, the annual income may not quite make up for the stress that comes along with it. In fact, according to fourth-quarter data from 2019 from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average salary for an American worker is $48,672, but the average salary for an American teacher doesn’t always approach that amount: The 25 metropolitan areas across America with the lowest average salaries for elementary school teachers all come in lower.

California has the highest average salaries for elementary school teachers: Based on data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, seven of the top ten highest salaries can be found in metro areas in the Golden State. The highest salary, however, can be found in Kingston, New York, where elementary school teachers receive an average salary of $92,090. This is nearly triple the amount that an elementary school teacher would receive in the metropolitan area of Sierra Vista-Douglas, Arizona, which is just $37,880 annually. This analysis from PlaygroundEquipment.com reveals where the highest- and lowest-paid elementary school teachers are in the United States.

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Here are the metropolitan areas in the United States with the highest salaries for elementary school teachers.

1. Kingston, NY: $92,090
2. Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA: $90,270
3. Merced, CA: $89,910
4. El Centro, CA: $87,260
5. Los Angeles-Long-Beach-Anaheim, CA: $87,120
6. San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA: $86,350
7. Modesto, CA: $85,110
8. San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, CA: $84,040
9. New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ: $83,990
10. Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk, CT: $83,590
11. Boston-Cambridge-Nashua, MA-NH: $83,460
12. Visalia-Porterville, CA: $83,280
13. Bakersfield, CA: $82,430
14. New Bedford, MA: $81,500
15. Santa Maria-Santa Barbara, CA: $81,420
16. Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA: $81,420
17. Santa Cruz-Watsonville, CA: $81,410
18. Fresno, CA: $80,970
19. California-Lexington-Park, MD: $80,940
20. Napa, CA: $80,670
21. Pittsfield, MA: $79,490
22. New Haven, CT: $78,490
23. Hanford-Corcoran, CA: $78,430
24. Leominster-Gardner, MA: $78,110
25. Bend-Redmond-OR: $77,780

However, while teachers in these areas are well-compensated, the same can’t be said for their peers in other parts of the country.

Out of the ten metropolitan areas with the lowest annual salaries for elementary school teachers, five of them are located in Arizona, including the lowest two, which are Sierra Vista-Douglas ($37,880) and Yuma ($40,370).

These are the 25 metropolitan areas across the United States that have the lowest average salaries for elementary school teachers.

1. Coeur d’Alene, ID: $45,700
2. New Bern, NC: $45,660
3. Jacksonville, NC: $45,100
4. Jonesboro, AR: $45,030
5. Rapid City, SD: $44,990
6. Hattiesburg, MS: $44,870
7. Hammond, LA: $44,760
8. Fayetteville, NC: $44,550
9. Evansville, IN: $44,440
10. St. Joseph, MO: $44,320
11. Greenville, NC: $43,980
12. Cape Girardeau, MO: $43,710
13. Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville, FL: $43,410
14. Jackson, MS: $43,150
15. Lawton, OK: $43,140
16. Lake Havasu City-Kingman, AZ: $43,090
17. Prescott, AZ: $43,050
18. Joplin, MO: $43,030
19. Gainesville, FL: $42,760
20. Tucson, AZ: $42,630
21. Twin Falls, ID: $42,000
22. Rocky Mount, NC: $41,990
23. Idaho Falls, ID: $41,280
24. Yuma, AZ: $40,370
25. Sierra Vista-Douglas, AZ: $37,880

Here are some more facts about elementary school teacher salaries in America:

• Many first-year teachers can expect to earn less than $40,000 annually in the United States.
• The average teacher spends nearly $500 on their own classroom supplies.
• The United States ranks seventh in the world for teacher pay. At $124,000 annually, Luxembourg is the #1 country in the world when it comes to teacher salaries.
• On average, Oklahoma is the lowest-paying state for teachers. There, teachers typically make less than $33,630 a year.
• More than 20% of teachers in America need to work a second job.
• According to a 2018 PDK poll, 71% of American citizens feel that teachers should be paid higher salaries.

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