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Pay · 25-2011

Preschool Teachers, Except Special Education earn $38,140 a year at the midpoint

Starting pay is close to the middle here: the 25th percentile is $34,530 against a median of $38,140, so the first years are not a long climb.

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$38,140median a year · United States
$18.34an hour $43,030average 478,780people
Nine in ten people in this work earn between the two ends. The shaded part is the middle half — where most people are.
$34,53025th $38,140median $47,55075th
$28,99010th percentile $61,39090th percentile
$34,530a year at the 25th percentile, nearer a first job
$62,150best-paying state · District of Columbia
$28,310lowest-paying state · Alabama
+63%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.
  • The annual figure is arithmetic. For hourly occupations the annual figure is the hourly rate times 2080 hours. It is a calculation, not observed earnings: part time is the norm in retail and food service.
  • 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.”

A short climbThe 25th percentile, $34,530, is within 9% of the median.
State matters a lotThe same job pays $62,150 in District of Columbia and $28,310 in Alabama — a gap of $33,840 a year.

Preschool teacher earnings, from starting pay up to the top 10%

Pick the job, where you work and how long you have done it. The range comes from the published wage percentiles for that job.

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An estimate from survey percentiles, not an offer. Employer, industry, shift and credentials move pay within and beyond this range. Full wage page for this job →

Neighbouring work, and what it pays

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

Preschool Teachers, Except Special Education$38,140
Secondary school teachers$72,040+$33,900 Special Education Teachers, Middle School$66,810+$28,670 Special Education Teachers, Kindergarten and Elementary School$65,120+$26,980 Career/Technical Education Teachers, Middle School$65,030+$26,890 Middle School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education$64,370+$26,230 Elementary school teachers$63,970+$25,830

Examples

Resumes written for this kind of job.

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

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  • Preschool Teacher Resume Template Education
  • Kindergarten 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

Preschool teacher pay rate, hourly to annual

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

$38,147a year

A resume for preschool teachers, except special education

Name the job in the builder and the duties, skills and credentials it is screened on are written in for you.

SeesawGoogle ClassroomSchoologyChildren's educational softwareTadpolesFlipgridEasyCBMCommon Curriculum
  • Taught basic skills, such as color, shape, number and letter recognition, personal hygiene, and social skills.
  • Established and enforced rules for behavior and procedures for maintaining order.
  • Adapted teaching methods and instructional materials 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.

Place 719 of 788 by median pay

Better paid than 9% of the occupations in the survey.

  1. 717 Textile Bleaching and Dyeing Machine Operators and Tenders $38,180
  2. 718 Veterinary assistants and laboratory animal caretakers $38,150
  3. 719 Preschool Teachers, Except Special Education $38,140
  4. 720 Crossing Guards and Flaggers $38,100
  5. 721 Security guards $38,020

Preschool teacher wages in each state

The 47 states where the most people do this work, of 51 with a published figure: their medians range by 2.20 times. Figures are the 2025 survey.

State Median a year Where most start 10th to 90th Employed
District of Columbia $62,150 $40,240 $40,240 — $108,270 2,350
Hawaii $48,780 $37,160 $37,160 — $64,110 1,410
New Jersey $48,220 $37,020 $37,020 — $86,910 16,190
Kansas $47,750 $27,850 $27,850 — $61,790 1,330
California $47,400 $37,870 $37,870 — $65,350 55,700
Nebraska $47,040 $31,620 $31,620 — $73,620 1,630
New York $46,520 $36,050 $36,050 — $75,660 23,870
Massachusetts $45,890 $35,890 $35,890 — $60,440 18,710
Connecticut $45,740 $35,460 $35,460 — $80,400 5,230
Washington $45,660 $38,080 $38,080 — $60,130 13,210
Colorado $45,500 $35,820 $35,820 — $84,700 5,210
Oregon $45,140 $35,680 $35,680 — $63,550 6,300
Maryland $44,600 $35,760 $35,760 — $67,510 8,020
South Dakota $44,500 $30,980 $30,980 — $56,370 1,470
New Mexico $44,070 $32,270 $32,270 — $79,560 2,490
Georgia $43,920 $28,150 $28,150 — $77,130 16,850
Maine $43,890 $36,170 $36,170 — $60,110 1,110
Minnesota $43,430 $36,060 $36,060 — $61,190 10,320
Illinois $40,910 $36,030 $36,030 — $60,890 22,420
New Hampshire $39,350 $34,670 $34,670 — $51,470 2,220
Nevada $38,870 $30,100 $30,100 — $64,590 2,360
Louisiana $38,020 $23,700 $23,700 — $59,970 3,570
Virginia $37,140 $30,290 $30,290 — $60,710 13,570
Michigan $37,110 $30,310 $30,310 — $50,720 10,950
Rhode Island $36,830 $31,200 $31,200 — $46,180 1,890
Indiana $36,650 $28,720 $28,720 — $50,920 7,110
Delaware $36,360 $31,200 $31,200 — $44,270 2,000
Arizona $36,300 $31,760 $31,760 — $47,790 9,400
Mississippi $36,250 $20,980 $20,980 — $53,370 3,600
Wisconsin $36,160 $28,530 $28,530 — $46,090 11,330
Missouri $36,090 $29,030 $29,030 — $54,610 5,580
Pennsylvania $36,050 $29,590 $29,590 — $46,460 22,760
Florida $35,860 $29,550 $29,550 — $46,980 35,740
North Carolina $35,710 $28,700 $28,700 — $47,530 18,370
Ohio $35,180 $27,260 $27,260 — $48,240 19,840
Utah $35,010 $28,770 $28,770 — $47,300 3,670
South Carolina $34,500 $26,820 $26,820 — $49,900 4,550
Tennessee $34,280 $27,160 $27,160 — $64,480 5,420
Arkansas $34,190 $27,190 $27,190 — $56,690 3,270
Texas $33,860 $26,430 $26,430 — $49,680 41,200
Iowa $33,830 $27,730 $27,730 — $48,390 5,910
Idaho $32,800 $26,500 $26,500 — $46,950 1,010
West Virginia $32,480 $23,520 $23,520 — $58,810 2,190
Oklahoma $31,790 $23,100 $23,100 — $58,130 7,010
Wyoming $29,930 $23,600 $23,600 — $58,880 1,040
Kentucky $29,780 $23,490 $23,490 — $51,760 8,520
Alabama $28,310 $21,150 $21,150 — $47,350 7,910

Questions people ask most

What is a preschool teacher’s yearly income?

A preschool teacher makes a median of $38,140 a year (2025 survey). The middle half earn between $34,530 and $47,550.

What is a preschool teacher’s hourly pay rate?

The median pay rate is $18.34 an hour; the average is $43,030 a year.

What is the starting pay for a preschool teacher?

Starting pay is usually near the 25th percentile, $34,530 a year, and sometimes as low as the 10th, $28,990.

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

District of Columbia, with a median of $62,150 a year.

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

About 478,780 in the United States — number 719 of 788 occupations by median pay.

Work that pays nearly the same

Median pay within $130 of what preschool teachers, except special education earn — $38,140 a year — but not always the same spread.

See all 788 occupations