Each week, “Answer Key” aims to help families by responding to an important question about education and schools in Greater Houston. If you have a question for us to answer, please email us at education@houstonlanding.org or fill out the form at the end of this article.

This week’s question:

How does Texas teacher pay compare to other states?

Texas teachers could soon see pay increases totaling thousands of dollars, a bump that likely would keep their salaries roughly in line with national averages.

For teachers, state-by-state salary comparisons are a notable measure of whether they’re well-paid or underpaid. But merely looking at pay doesn’t capture how far each dollar goes in each state. 

For example, $60,000 might be barely enough to get by in a high cost-of-living state, such as California or Hawaii, but it’s a solid wage in less-expensive states like Alabama or Arkansas.

Here’s what to know about how Texas’ teacher pay stacks up compared to other states. 

What do Texas teachers earn on average?

The average Texas teacher, who has 11 years of experience, earned about $62,500 in 2023-24, according to the Texas Education Agency.

LIke any job, teacher pay depends in large part on years of experience, with pay generally ranging from about $50,000 to $80,000.

The state’s teacher pay data doesn’t account for benefits, stipends, bonuses and other extra compensation given to teachers. Notably, Texas educators earned nearly $300 million in extra pay in 2023-24 from the Teacher Incentive Allotment, a state-sponsored system that rewards highly rated teachers. (For context, Texas teachers’ total base pay across the state totaled $23.4 billion last school year.)

How has teacher pay changed over the past 10 years?

Texas teachers earned an average salary of roughly $50,700 in 2014-15, meaning pay has gone up about $11,800 in the past decade. (Average years of experience hasn’t changed during that time.)

Despite the increase, the cost of living has moved higher at a faster rate than teacher salaries.

How does Texas teacher pay compare to other states, relative to the cost of living?

In terms of raw salary, Texas isn’t in the lead nationally, but it’s not on the lower end. 

Data compiled by the National Education Association, a union for school employees and education policy advocacy group, showed Texas’ average teacher pay ranked 30th out of the 50 states and the District of Columbia in 2022-23. 

The NEA data, however, doesn’t account for the cost of living in each state.

The federal government doesn’t track teacher salaries relative to cost of living. A few organizations and researchers have crunched the numbers, though their reviews are at least a few years old.

USAFacts, a nonpartisan nonprofit that analyzes government data, found that Texas’ average teacher salary adjusted for cost of living ranked 34th out of 51 in the nation in 2021-22. (In the two years since, Texas’ average salary has gone up about $1,800). 

An education analyst at the University of Utah found Texas’ average salary ranked 42nd out of the 50 states in 2020-21, using a slightly different method of calculation for cost of living.

Meanwhile, the Learning Policy Institute, an education research and advocacy nonprofit, calculated Texas’ starting teacher pay was 13th in the nation when adjusted for cost of living in 2019-20. The analysis, which hasn’t been updated for several years, didn’t look at average salary.

How do teachers feel about pay? 

Multiple polls by teachers unions and education organizations show Texas teachers believe they’re underpaid. For example, a survey commissioned by the Charles Butt Foundation, an Austin-based education advocacy nonprofit, found 77 percent of 1,100 teachers surveyed in 2024 said they did not feel they were paid a living wage. 

Leading advocates for Texas teachers have urged the state to deliver raises while also increasing the base amount of money given to schools for each student, known as the basic allotment. The Texas American Federation of Teachers is urging the Legislature to significantly increase the basic allotment, provide guaranteed raises for all teachers, and boost funding for special education and school infrastructure.

“I think that some level of across-the-board pay raise that starts to get us to that magic number … of being at least in the middle when it comes to teacher salaries across the United States is probably some of the best policy decision that could be made,” Zeph Capo, president of the Texas American Federation of Teachers, told KUT News in Austin.

What comes next?

Gov. Greg Abbott and legislative leaders have committed to teacher raises, though they disagree on how much to provide.

The Senate’s teacher pay bill, which passed unanimously in February, would provide $4.3 billion for teacher raises across the state by delivering $2,500 to $10,000 more to educators with at least three years of experience. The raise depends on experience level and the size of the teacher’s district.

The bill’s author, state Sen. Brandon Creighton, R-Conroe, has said providing a dedicated teacher pay raise would allow school districts to use more of their basic allotment on support staff. Senate Republicans, who control the chamber, are not considering an increase in the basic allotment.

The House’s primary education bill would raise the basic allotment from $6,160 to $6,380, or $220 per student. At least 40 percent of the additional money would have to go to employee salaries, though there is no mandatory amount that specific teachers must get. The bill hasn’t yet left the House Public Education Committee.

Texas Democrats and teachers union leaders have supported parts of the bills, though they’ve argued the raises and basic allotment increase should be larger.

If the House and Senate pass different plans for school funding, they will have to compromise on a bill by June 2, the end of the legislative session. 

Angelica Perez is a general assignment reporter for the Landing’s education team. Find her @byangelicaperez on Instagram and X, or reach her directly at angelica@houstonlanding.org.r and Instagram.

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