Teacher salary in North Carolina

Official occupation: 25-2031 Secondary School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education · Reference period May 2025 · Data updated · Confidence 95/100

In North Carolina, the median teacher earns $57,650 a year, 20% below the United States median of $72,040.

It ranks 47th of 51 states with a published figure.

Pay is relatively compressed, with the 10th percentile at $45,430 and the 90th at $64,460 (a ratio of 1.4).

About 28,620 people work in this occupation here, roughly in line with its national share (location quotient 0.85).

For context, the median across all occupations in North Carolina is $47,970, so this role pays 1.2 times the local typical wage.

Published figures

Published and derived pay figures
MeasureNorth CarolinaNational
Median annual pay Observed$57,650United States: $72,040
Mean annual pay Observed$55,760United States: $76,320
10th percentile Observed$45,430United States: $48,780
25th percentile Observed$47,760United States: $59,980
75th percentile Observed$60,740United States: $92,570
90th percentile Observed$64,460United States: $107,600
Employment (jobs) Observed28,620
Jobs per 1,000 employees Observed5.792
Location quotient Observed0.85
Difference from United States median ($72,040) Derived−20%
Rank among 51 states Derived47
Ratio to North Carolina all-occupation median ($47,970) Derived1.20×
90th / 10th percentile ratio Derived1.42

Nearby in the ranking

  1. 45. Missouri$59,240
  2. 46. Arizona$58,360
  3. 47. North Carolina$57,650
  4. 48. West Virginia$56,610
  5. 49. South Dakota$51,050

Largest cities in North Carolina: Charlotte, Raleigh, West Raleigh, Greensboro, Durham (GeoNames). Figures are for the whole state, not individual cities.

More pay data

Source, method and data quality

  • Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025 (Public domain (U.S. Government work)). Reference period: May 2025. Updates: Yearly (spring release).
  • Observed figures are copied from the published table without adjustment. Derived figures (rankings, ratios and differences) are calculated by us from those observed figures. No figure on this page is modeled or estimated.
  • Relative standard error (PRSE) published per estimate.
  • Confidence score: 95/100. Based on the published sampling error and job count. We only publish region pages scoring 60 or more that have at least 6 observed figures.
  • Place hierarchy from GeoNames (CC BY 4.0). Data last updated: .
  • Full method: methodology.