Skip Navigation
Illustration/Logo View Quarterly by  This Issue  |  Volume and Issue  |  Topics
Education Statistics Quarterly
Vol 2, Issue 3, Topic: Salaries of Teachers
Salaries of Teachers
 
 
This article was originally published as an Indicator of the Month, taken from The Condition of Education: 1999. The sample survey data are from the U.S. Census Bureau's March Current Population Survey (CPS).
 

Attracting and retaining quality teachers are growing concerns among education officials and the public. This is especially true for beginning teachers as school districts compete with each other and other industries for additional teaching personnel to cope with growing enrollments and an aging workforce of experienced teachers who are nearing retirement. Increased salaries potentially provide a means of attracting and retaining the increased numbers of quality young teachers who will be needed in the years ahead.
  • As a wave of younger teachers hired in the mid-1970s has aged, a demographic shift in the age of teachers has occurred. For example, in 1975, 53 percent of all full-time teachers were younger than age 35; in 1993, the percentage of younger teachers fell to about 23 percent (table 1 and figure 1). Meanwhile, the percentage of full-time teachers 45 years old or older increased from about 26 percent in 1975 to 43 per-cent in 1993.
  • The annual median salaries (in constant 1998 dollars) of full-time teachers decreased between 1971 and 1981 by about $500-700 per year, on average, in each age group (table 1 and figure 1).
  • Between 1981 and 1989, the salaries of teachers rose. For the oldest group of teachers, salaries rose by about $1,100 per year, on average (in constant 1998 dollars), while for the middle and youngest age groups, salaries increased by smaller amounts.
  • Since 1989, the salaries of the oldest and youngest groups of teachers have remained about the same, while the salaries of the middle age group (between ages 35 and 44) have declined by about $400 per year, on average (in constant 1998 dollars).
  • The difference between the annual median salaries of all full-time workers with at least a bachelor's degree and all full-time teachers declined from about $5,000 in 1981 to $2,300 in 1998 (in constant 1998 dollars). This decline in the salary gap has been due mainly to increases in the relative size of the older teaching workforce and in the salaries of teachers ages 45 or older.

Table 1. - Percentage distribution and annual median salaries (in constant 1998 dollars) of full-time elementary and secondary school teachers, by age, and annual median salaries of all bachelor's degree recipients: 1971-98

Table 1. - Percentage distribution and annual median salaries (in constant 1998 dollars) of full-time elementary and secondary school teachers, by age, and annual median salaries of all bachelor's degree recipients: 1971-98

*Includes only full-time employed bachelor's degree recipients.

NOTE: Median salaries refer to the previous calendar year; for example, salaries reported in 1971 refer to salaries earned in 1970. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) was used to calculate constant dollars. Includes full-time public and private school teachers who taught grades 1-12. Detail may not add to 100 due to rounding.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, Current Population Survey (CPS), March 1971-98 (selected years).

Figure 1. - Percentage distribution and annual median salaries of full-time elementary and secondary school teachers, by age: 1971-98

Figure 1. - Percentage distribution and annual median salaries of full-time elementary and secondary school teachers, by age: 1971-98.

Figure 1. - Percentage distribution and annual median salaries of full-time elementary and secondary school teachers, by age: 1971-98.

Figure 1. - Percentage distribution and annual median salaries of full-time elementary and secondary school teachers, by age: 1971-98.

NOTE: Median salaries refer to the previous calendar year; for example, salaries reported in 1971 refer to salaries earned in 1970. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) was used to calculate constant dollars. Includes full-time public and private school teachers who taught grades 1-12.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, Current Population Survey (CPS), March 1971-98 (selected years).

Data source: U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Survey (CPS), November 1979 and 1989, and October 1997

For technical information, see

National Center for Education Statistics. (1999). The Condition of Education: 1999 (NCES 1999-022).

For complete supplemental and standard error tables, see either
For questions about content, contact John Wirt (john.wirt@ed.gov).

To obtain this Indicator of the Month (NCES 2000-011), call the toll-free ED Pubs number (877-433-7827) or visit the NCES Web Site (http://nces.ed.gov).

back to top