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Average and median age of school teachers and percentage distribution of teachers by age category, sex, school type, and selected school characteristics: 2017–18

          Age category   Sex
School type and selected school characteristic Average age of teachers   Median age of teachers   Less than 30 years   30‐49 years   50‐54 years   55 years or more   Male   Female  
   All schools 42.6   41.6   15.1   55.7   11.6   17.6   23.8   76.2  
                                 
All public schools 42.4   41.4   15.0   56.9   11.6   16.5   23.5   76.5  
                                 
School classification                                
Traditional public 42.6   41.7   14.4   57.0   11.8   16.7   23.5   76.5  
Charter school 39.5   37.2   23.9   55.3   8.3   12.5   23.5   76.5  
                                 
Community type                                
City 42.2   41.1   16.4   55.1   11.8   16.7   23.8   76.2  
Suburban 42.5   41.6   13.7   58.6   11.4   16.2   22.5   77.5  
Town 42.4   41.6   15.6   56.5   11.9   16.0   24.7   75.3  
Rural 42.5   41.7   15.0   56.6   11.5   17.0   24.3   75.7  
                                 
School level                                
Primary 42.0   41.0   15.5   57.8   11.6   15.1   11.4   88.6  
Middle 42.5   41.8   15.7   56.2   11.2   16.8   27.9   72.1  
High 43.1   42.1   13.2   56.4   12.1   18.2   40.0   60.0  
Combined 42.3   40.9   16.8   54.6   10.8   17.8   29.7   70.3  
                                 
Student enrollment                                
Less than 100 44.3   43.8   13.5   52.2   11.8   22.6   29.2   70.8  
100–199 43.6   43.3   14.6   51.4   12.4   21.7   23.3   76.7  
200–499 42.1   41.1   15.8   56.6   11.5   16.1   19.0   81.0  
500–749 42.3   41.5   14.9   58.0   11.3   15.8   18.3   81.7  
750–999 41.9   41.0   15.8   58.1   11.4   14.7   22.6   77.4  
1,000 or more 42.8   41.8   13.8   56.7   12.0   17.5   34.5   65.5  
                                 
Percent of K–12 students who were approved
for free or reduced‑price lunches		                                
0–34 42.7   41.8   13.3   58.7   11.9   16.1   24.3   75.7  
35–49 41.9   40.6   14.9   59.1   11.0   15.0   25.4   74.6  
50–74 42.6   41.8   14.5   56.5   12.0   17.0   23.0   77.0  
75 or more 42.2   41.2   17.0   54.4   11.3   17.2   22.1   77.9  
                                 
All private schools 44.3   43.1   16.2   47.1   11.3   25.4   26.0   74.0  
                                 
School Classification                                
Catholic 44.8   44.4   16.9   42.7   13.0   27.4   23.5   76.5  
Other religious ‡   ‡   ‡   ‡   ‡   ‡   ‡   ‡  
Nonsectarian ‡   ‡   ‡   ‡   ‡   ‡   ‡   ‡  
                                 
Community type                                
City 44.0   42.3   16.7   47.8   10.6   25.0   26.7   73.3  
Suburban 44.5   43.7   16.3   45.5   12.7   25.6   25.4   74.6  
Town 45.7   44.7   10.0   51.6   9.8   28.6   18.1   81.9  
Rural 43.8   43.0   17.7   47.2   10.0   25.1   29.8   70.2  
                                 
School level                                
Elementary 44.3   43.0   16.3   46.3   10.5   26.8   15.9   84.1  
Secondary 44.7   43.5   16.6   44.3   13.0   26.0   36.6   63.4  
Combined ‡   ‡   ‡   ‡   ‡   ‡   ‡   ‡  
                                 
Student enrollment                                
Less than 100 ‡   ‡   ‡   ‡   ‡   ‡   ‡   ‡  
100–199 44.0   42.9   18.4   45.1   10.8   25.7   19.4   80.6  
200–499 44.5   43.5   15.9   47.2   12.0   24.8   25.5   74.5  
500–749 44.7   43.2   13.8   47.7   11.9   26.6   32.1   67.9  
750 or more ‡   ‡   ‡   ‡   ‡   ‡   ‡   ‡  
‡ Reporting standards not met. The response rate is below 50 percent.
NOTE: Teachers include both full-time and part-time teachers. Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, National Teacher and Principal Survey (NTPS), “Public School Teacher and Private School Teacher Data Files,” 2017–18.

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