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Pay · 25-2012

Kindergarten Teachers, Except Special Education earn $62,680 a year at the midpoint

Across roughly 108,870 people in this work, the midpoint is $62,680 a year, with most starting near $52,180.

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$62,680median a year · United States
—an hour $69,370average 108,870people
Nine in ten people in this work earn between the two ends. The shaded part is the middle half — where most people are.
$52,18025th $62,680median $79,91075th
$46,99010th percentile $101,83090th percentile
$52,180a year at the 25th percentile, nearer a first job
$99,960best-paying state · Washington
$47,590lowest-paying state · Montana
+59%top state against the national median
  • Read the spread, not the middle. The median is the midpoint across everyone in the occupation, most of them years into the work. A beginner starts nearer the 10th to 25th percentile, which is why the spread is published alongside it.
  • What the figure counts. The figure counts base pay plus tips, commissions and production bonuses. It leaves out the self-employed, unpaid family workers, private household workers, and the value of benefits or profit sharing.
  • Where you live moves it more than your resume does. National figures. A state or metro area can sit far from the national number, and that gap is usually larger than any difference a resume makes.
  • Not in these numbers. Growth and annual openings are not in this dataset. They come from the separate Employment Projections tables, where an opening is a modelled ten year average and not a posted vacancy.

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, 2025. Retrieved through the BLS Public Data API on 2026-08-13. bls.gov/oes “BLS.gov cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from BLS.gov.”

Paid by the yearThe survey publishes no hourly figure for this occupation — it is typically salaried, often on a school or contract year.
State matters a lotThe same job pays $99,960 in Washington and $47,590 in Montana — a gap of $52,370 a year.

Kindergarten teacher earnings, from starting pay to the best-paid 10%

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  • Established and enforced rules for behavior and policies and procedures to maintain order among students.
  • Prepared children for later grades by encouraging them to explore learning opportunities and to persevere with challenging tasks.
  • Instructed students individually and in groups, adapting teaching methods to meet students' varying needs and interests.

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This page includes information from the O*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. The owner of tiersi.com has modified all or some of this information. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications.

Ranked 366 of 788 by median pay

Better paid than 54% of the occupations in the survey.

  1. 364 Structural Iron and Steel Workers $62,780
  2. 365 Fabric and Apparel Patternmakers $62,750
  3. 366 Kindergarten Teachers, Except Special Education $62,680
  4. 367 Riggers $62,640
  5. 368 Athletic Trainers $62,520

Adjacent work, and what it pays

Occupations in the same group of the federal classification — the usual next steps, or the ones beside this one.

Kindergarten Teachers, Except Special Education$62,680
Secondary school teachers$72,040+$9,360 Special Education Teachers, Middle School$66,810+$4,130 Special Education Teachers, Kindergarten and Elementary School$65,120+$2,440 Career/Technical Education Teachers, Middle School$65,030+$2,350 Middle School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education$64,370+$1,690 Elementary school teachers$63,970+$1,290

Kindergarten teacher wages, state by state

The 43 states where the most people do this work, of 50 with a published figure: their medians range by 2.10 times. Figures are the 2025 survey.

State Median a year Where most start 10th to 90th Employed
Washington $99,960 $65,400 $65,400 — $125,990 5,270
Connecticut $90,030 $61,730 $61,730 — $111,450 1,420
Massachusetts $84,100 $58,900 $58,900 — $106,600 1,980
California $82,550 $53,210 $53,210 — $124,400 7,430
New York $77,630 $49,020 $49,020 — $137,710 6,950
Maryland $75,910 $56,520 $56,520 — $108,360 1,560
Minnesota $75,500 $45,280 $45,280 — $98,680 2,840
New Mexico $74,380 $51,420 $51,420 — $88,570 950
New Jersey $74,210 $60,040 $60,040 — $102,870 5,370
Ohio $72,570 $46,040 $46,040 — $97,880 3,290
Oregon $68,580 $49,190 $49,190 — $98,100 1,330
Georgia $65,680 $48,610 $48,610 — $95,070 4,530
Nevada $64,930 $55,020 $55,020 — $82,740 1,400
Pennsylvania $64,430 $41,700 $41,700 — $92,600 2,510
Illinois $64,020 $46,040 $46,040 — $103,420 4,660
Virginia $63,920 $48,850 $48,850 — $100,930 3,740
Texas $63,780 $43,730 $43,730 — $72,640 3,820
Michigan $63,300 $39,070 $39,070 — $95,320 1,890
Utah $63,190 $40,900 $40,900 — $95,620 530
Colorado $62,870 $47,300 $47,300 — $97,710 3,260
Idaho $62,240 $49,840 $49,840 — $81,240 460
Nebraska $62,200 $46,260 $46,260 — $78,160 1,120
South Carolina $60,890 $47,730 $47,730 — $79,090 1,540
Kentucky $60,280 $44,980 $44,980 — $79,920 2,450
New Hampshire $60,240 $47,150 $47,150 — $83,570 520
North Dakota $59,420 $47,490 $47,490 — $77,890 600
Wisconsin $59,350 $39,990 $39,990 — $79,340 1,510
West Virginia $58,790 $47,630 $47,630 — $72,210 730
Iowa $58,420 $47,020 $47,020 — $75,860 1,160
Indiana $58,250 $46,260 $46,260 — $76,200 2,120
Florida $58,100 $49,960 $49,960 — $77,460 8,810
Tennessee $58,070 $46,980 $46,980 — $74,440 2,740
Kansas $56,670 $47,180 $47,180 — $65,070 1,300
Missouri $56,590 $44,520 $44,520 — $79,100 2,300
North Carolina $53,180 $40,760 $40,760 — $63,620 2,250
Louisiana $53,130 $44,720 $44,720 — $60,530 3,730
Arizona $52,830 $45,850 $45,850 — $76,760 3,020
Maine $52,660 $45,350 $45,350 — $79,290 570
Arkansas $52,060 $47,240 $47,240 — $65,710 1,490
South Dakota $49,410 $46,520 $46,520 — $59,910 610
Mississippi $48,880 $37,980 $37,980 — $60,110 1,350
Oklahoma $47,860 $43,790 $43,790 — $60,420 1,690
Montana $47,590 $38,570 $38,570 — $81,070 400

Examples

Resumes written for this line of work.

Real sheets, filled in end to end — for this job and the ones beside it.

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  • Kindergarten Teacher Resume Template Education
  • Preschool Teacher Resume Template Education
  • Elementary Teacher Resume Template Education
  • Middle School Teacher Resume Template Education
  • CTE Middle School Teacher Resume Template Education
  • High School Teacher Resume Template Education
  • CTE High School Teacher Resume Template Education
  • Special Education Preschool Teacher Resume Template Education
  • Elementary Special Education Teacher Resume Template Education
  • Middle School Special Education Teacher Resume Template Education
  • High School Special Education Teacher Resume Template Education
  • Special Education Teacher Resume Template Education

Kindergarten teacher pay rate, hourly and yearly

Starts at this job’s median. Change the rate or the hours; a full-time year is 40 hours for 52 weeks.

$62,670a year

Questions people ask most

What is a kindergarten teacher’s yearly income?

A kindergarten teacher makes a median of $62,680 a year (2025 survey). The middle half earn between $52,180 and $79,910.

What is the starting pay for a kindergarten teacher?

Starting pay is usually near the 25th percentile, $52,180 a year, and sometimes as low as the 10th, $46,990.

Which state pays kindergarten teachers, except special education the most?

Washington, with a median of $99,960 a year.

How many people work as kindergarten teachers, except special education?

About 108,870 in the United States — number 366 of 788 occupations by median pay.

Work that pays about the same

Median pay within $210 of what kindergarten teachers, except special education earn — $62,680 a year — but not always the same spread.

See all 788 occupations