The median math teacher salary is $72,040 for high school and $64,370 for middle school, based on May 2025 Bureau of Labor Statistics figures for teachers of all subjects. Your state matters more than your subject: Washington’s high school median is $102,670, while Oklahoma’s is $48,710.
In many public school districts, your subject doesn’t set your base pay. Those districts pay teachers from a salary schedule that places you mainly by years of experience and education level, not by whether you teach algebra or art. On that kind of schedule, a math teacher and an English teacher with the same degree and the same years start from the same base salary.
That’s a hiring problem for districts, because engineering, finance and data jobs often pay more for the same math skills. The extra money for math teachers comes mostly from grants and loan programs, not a higher base salary, and those programs are where you can come out ahead. Here’s what the job pays nationally and by state, and which incentives add money.
Math Teacher Salary Info by State
- Alabama
- Alaska
- Arizona
- Arkansas
- California
- Colorado
- Connecticut
- Delaware
- District of Columbia
- Florida
- Georgia
- Hawaii
- Idaho
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Louisiana
- Maine
- Maryland
- Massachusetts
- Michigan
- Minnesota
- Mississippi
- Missouri
- Montana
- Nebraska
- Nevada
- New Hampshire
- New Jersey
- New Mexico
- New York
- North Carolina
- North Dakota
- Ohio
- Oklahoma
- Oregon
- Pennsylvania
- Rhode Island
- South Carolina
- South Dakota
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Utah
- Vermont
- Virginia
- Washington
- West Virginia
- Wisconsin
- Wyoming
What Math Teachers Earn Nationally
BLS has no separate math teacher category. It counts math teachers inside two occupations, high school teachers and middle school teachers, so every figure on this page covers teachers of all subjects. As of May 2025, the national figures look like this:
| Occupation | Employment | Median Annual Wage | 75th Percentile | 90th Percentile |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| High School Teachers | 1,065,210 | $72,040 | $92,570 | $107,600 |
| Middle School Teachers | 620,090 | $64,370 | $80,490 | $102,540 |
The median is the middle salary: half of teachers earn more and half earn less. The top 10% of high school teachers earn $107,600 or more, and the top 10% of middle school teachers earn $102,540 or more.
Math Teacher Salary by State
Where you teach moves your pay far more than what you teach. These are the five states with the highest and lowest high school medians as of May 2025, with each state’s middle school median alongside.
| Highest-Paying State | High School Median | Middle School Median |
|---|---|---|
| Washington | $102,670 | $102,140 |
| California | $101,370 | $98,950 |
| New York | $97,070 | $94,840 |
| Massachusetts | $95,260 | $89,450 |
| Rhode Island | $92,610 | $92,760 |
| Lowest-Paying State | High School Median | Middle School Median |
|---|---|---|
| Oklahoma | $48,710 | $48,440 |
| Mississippi | $50,980 | $50,790 |
| South Dakota | $51,050 | $50,980 |
| West Virginia | $56,610 | $57,210 |
| North Carolina | $57,650 | $52,010 |
The biggest teaching states don’t always pay the most. Texas employs more high school teachers than any other state, 111,660, yet its $63,590 median ranks 28th. Florida’s $60,410 ranks 41st. In the other direction, California and New York sit just behind Washington at the top. Here’s how the ten states our readers look up most often compare:
| State | High School Median | Middle School Median |
|---|---|---|
| Washington | $102,670 | $102,140 |
| California | $101,370 | $98,950 |
| New York | $97,070 | $94,840 |
| Massachusetts | $95,260 | $89,450 |
| Pennsylvania | $78,800 | $77,930 |
| Georgia | $75,480 | $64,780 |
| Michigan | $66,030 | $63,790 |
| Texas | $63,590 | $63,390 |
| Alabama | $61,990 | $61,770 |
| Florida | $60,410 | $58,940 |
Each state name links to that state’s salary page, which breaks the figures down by metro area. Metro pay can differ a lot from the state median.
How Your Degree and Experience Set Your Pay
Inside a district, two things move you up the salary schedule: years of service, called steps, and education, called lanes. Each year of service typically moves you up one step. A master’s degree, or graduate credits beyond it, moves you to a higher lane, and that raise applies every year after.
Chicago Public Schools shows how lanes work. Its compensation and pay plan policy places teachers with a bachelor’s degree on Lane I and teachers with a master’s degree on Lane II. Lanes III through V add 15, 30 and 45 graduate credits beyond the master’s, and Lane VI requires a doctorate.
Before you pick a master’s program, find your target district’s salary schedule. It’s usually posted by the district’s human resources office or printed in the teachers’ union contract. Compare the bachelor’s and master’s lanes at the same step: that gap, multiplied by the years you plan to teach, is what the degree is worth to you.
The same contract usually lists supplemental pay for extra duties such as coaching, club sponsorship or chairing a department. Those stipends sit on top of your schedule salary.
Job Outlook for Math Teachers
BLS projects little or no change in employment for either occupation between 2025 and 2035. High school teaching jobs are projected to go from 1,087,500 to 1,085,000, and middle school jobs from 630,100 to 627,400.
| Occupation | Employment, 2025 | Projected, 2035 | Change | Openings per Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| High School Teachers | 1,087,500 | 1,085,000 | -2,500 (0%) | 63,500 |
| Middle School Teachers | 630,100 | 627,400 | -2,600 (0%) | 38,800 |
Openings are the number that matters to you. Even with flat employment, BLS expects about 63,500 high school and 38,800 middle school teaching openings each year, as teachers retire or leave the profession. For what the work involves day to day, see our guide to math teacher careers.
Shortages are a separate question, and states report them. To see whether your state lists mathematics as a teacher shortage area, search the US Department of Education’s Teacher Shortage Areas database by state for the school year for which shortage-area designations are available. A field on that list can count as a high-need field for TEACH Grant service, covered in the next section. It doesn’t show whether a particular school qualifies: that’s a separate low-income school requirement.
Federal and State Incentives for Math Teachers
Because a salary schedule doesn’t pay by subject, the extra money comes from grants and loan programs tied to teaching in high-need schools. These programs were checked against official sources as of October 2026.
TEACH Grant
The federal TEACH Grant pays students in eligible teacher preparation programs, and mathematics is a listed high-need field. The statutory maximum is $4,000 a year, but federal sequestration cuts it to $3,772 for grants first disbursed from October 1, 2026, through September 30, 2027, according to Federal Student Aid’s FY 2027 announcement.
In return, you agree to teach full time in a high-need field at a school serving low-income students for at least four academic years within eight years of leaving your program. If you don’t, every grant you received converts to a Direct Unsubsidized Loan, with interest charged from each disbursement date. Take it only if you’re confident you’ll teach in a qualifying school.
Teacher Loan Forgiveness
Teacher Loan Forgiveness cancels up to $17,500 of eligible federal Direct or FFEL loans for highly qualified, full-time math teachers at an eligible secondary school. Other highly qualified full-time teachers can get up to $5,000. You qualify after five complete and consecutive academic years of full-time teaching at a low-income school or educational service agency.
Not every borrower or loan qualifies. You must have had no outstanding Direct or FFEL loan balance on October 1, 1998, or on the date you took out a loan after that, and only certain federal loan types count.
One catch: if you receive Teacher Loan Forgiveness, the same five years of service can’t also count toward the 120 qualifying monthly payments that Public Service Loan Forgiveness requires. If you’re pursuing PSLF, compare the total each program could forgive before you apply for Teacher Loan Forgiveness.
Alabama’s AMSTEP Loan Repayment
Some states add their own programs. Alabama‘s Math and Science Teacher Education Program (AMSTEP) repays federal student loans for public school math and science teachers. For new applicants since fall 2022, it pays $3,750 per semester worked, or $7,500 a year, plus a $2,500 yearly supplement in districts with acute shortages, for up to four consecutive years. With the supplement, that’s up to $10,000 a year.
To qualify, you must have completed an Alabama-approved bachelor’s or master’s program in math or science, beginning with the spring 2018 term, that leads to an initial secondary certificate in that subject. You also need a valid Alabama certificate endorsed in secondary math or science, and you must teach that subject full time in an Alabama public school district or approved charter school. Passing the Praxis to add an endorsement, without completing a full program, doesn’t count.
Check your own state education department for similar loan repayment or signing programs, and confirm the current terms before you count on them.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much do math teachers make a year?
High school teachers earned a median salary of $72,040 as of May 2025, and middle school teachers earned $64,370, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. BLS reports these figures for teachers of all subjects, including math.
Do math teachers get paid more than other teachers?
Usually not on the base salary schedule. Many public districts set base pay mainly by years of service and education, not subject. Math teachers can earn more through programs like Teacher Loan Forgiveness, which cancels up to $17,500 for secondary math teachers versus $5,000 for most other teachers.
Can a math teacher make six figures?
Yes, in some states. Washington’s high school and middle school medians are both above $100,000, and California’s high school median is $101,370. Nationally, the top 10% of high school teachers earn $107,600 or more.
Does a master’s degree raise a math teacher’s salary?
In districts that use salary lanes, yes. A master’s degree moves you to a higher lane, and the raise applies every year after. Compare the bachelor’s and master’s lanes on your target district’s salary schedule to see the dollar difference.
Are math teaching jobs growing?
No. BLS projects little or no change in employment for high school or middle school teachers between 2025 and 2035. It still expects about 63,500 high school and 38,800 middle school openings each year as teachers retire or leave.
- National pay: High school teachers earned a median $72,040 and middle school teachers $64,370 as of May 2025, for teachers of all subjects.
- State matters most: Washington’s high school median is $102,670, more than double Oklahoma’s $48,710.
- Schedules, not subject: Many district salary schedules pay by steps for years of service and lanes for education, so a master’s degree moves you up.
- Outlook: BLS projects little or no employment change from 2025 to 2035, with about 63,500 high school and 38,800 middle school openings a year.
- Extra money: The TEACH Grant pays up to $3,772 a year for grants first disbursed in the 2027 federal fiscal year, and Teacher Loan Forgiveness cancels up to $17,500 for secondary math teachers.
2025 US Bureau of Labor Statistics salary figures for Middle School Teachers and High School Teachers, which include teachers of all subjects. National job growth projections (2025-2035) are from the BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook. Figures reflect state and national data, not school-specific information. Conditions in your area may vary. Data accessed October 2026.
If a master’s lane or a TEACH Grant is part of your plan, the program you choose decides whether you qualify. Check whether a program is TEACH Grant-eligible and whether it leads to certification in the state where you’ll teach. The schools listed here offer math education programs you can compare on both points.