Pay · 25-3031
Substitute Teachers, Short-Term earn $41,670 a year at the midpoint
One of the largest occupations in the country — about 524,770 people — with a midpoint of $41,670 a year.
National figures for substitute teachers, short-term, 25-3031, from the 2025 Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey.
- 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.”
Short-term substitute teacher earnings, from starting pay 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.
The survey has no complete figures for that job — pick the closest title from the list.
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 →
Short-term substitute teacher wages across the states
The 48 states where the most people do this work, of 50 with a published figure: their medians range by 3.00 times. Figures are the 2025 survey.
| State | Median a year | Where most start | 10th to 90th | Employed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alaska | $66,920 | $38,250 | $38,250 — $132,530 | 1,420 |
| California | $60,300 | $39,040 | $39,040 — $78,670 | 115,660 |
| Hawaii | $58,530 | $45,690 | $45,690 — $60,620 | 3,990 |
| Oregon | $58,280 | $54,870 | $54,870 — $74,290 | 8,090 |
| Washington | $55,740 | $45,790 | $45,790 — $67,700 | 14,820 |
| Minnesota | $50,390 | $37,750 | $37,750 — $75,890 | 8,660 |
| District of Columbia | $49,790 | $46,450 | $46,450 — $51,090 | 750 |
| West Virginia | $49,020 | $41,440 | $41,440 — $75,290 | 4,840 |
| Maryland | $46,470 | $32,870 | $32,870 — $47,360 | 7,610 |
| Rhode Island | $45,590 | $36,410 | $36,410 — $60,640 | 1,910 |
| Pennsylvania | $44,870 | $30,470 | $30,470 — $63,930 | 22,360 |
| Wisconsin | $43,950 | $35,740 | $35,740 — $59,890 | 8,420 |
| New Jersey | $43,780 | $34,170 | $34,170 — $58,670 | 17,100 |
| New York | $43,490 | $35,090 | $35,090 — $60,010 | 36,090 |
| North Dakota | $42,570 | $33,780 | $33,780 — $55,080 | 420 |
| Massachusetts | $41,350 | $33,590 | $33,590 — $58,930 | 8,410 |
| Michigan | $39,500 | $29,720 | $29,720 — $61,370 | 3,600 |
| Illinois | $39,410 | $31,200 | $31,200 — $58,040 | 17,220 |
| Virginia | $39,020 | $27,670 | $27,670 — $53,540 | 24,350 |
| Georgia | $38,870 | $20,800 | $20,800 — $45,900 | 16,400 |
| Arizona | $38,500 | $31,170 | $31,170 — $50,290 | 4,710 |
| Connecticut | $38,460 | $35,050 | $35,050 — $63,980 | 5,950 |
| Vermont | $38,200 | $31,470 | $31,470 — $54,120 | 1,400 |
| Nebraska | $37,690 | $28,080 | $28,080 — $61,450 | 3,430 |
| Iowa | $37,230 | $30,980 | $30,980 — $47,770 | 7,300 |
| Ohio | $37,150 | $28,480 | $28,480 — $47,470 | 9,140 |
| Florida | $37,080 | $30,300 | $30,300 — $60,520 | 25,270 |
| Wyoming | $36,990 | $30,600 | $30,600 — $45,590 | 2,230 |
| Utah | $36,490 | $24,710 | $24,710 — $53,780 | 4,710 |
| New Mexico | $36,400 | $30,170 | $30,170 — $43,960 | 3,510 |
| Indiana | $36,360 | $28,540 | $28,540 — $56,330 | 9,920 |
| Kansas | $36,190 | $28,980 | $28,980 — $44,900 | 9,360 |
| New Hampshire | $34,990 | $28,870 | $28,870 — $46,490 | 1,070 |
| Missouri | $34,790 | $29,220 | $29,220 — $49,850 | 11,480 |
| Idaho | $34,080 | $29,110 | $29,110 — $45,240 | 1,800 |
| North Carolina | $33,780 | $28,390 | $28,390 — $45,040 | 20,360 |
| Texas | $32,040 | $22,870 | $22,870 — $39,090 | 29,150 |
| South Carolina | $30,400 | $22,460 | $22,460 — $78,690 | 7,700 |
| Kentucky | $29,730 | $24,120 | $24,120 — $64,680 | 320 |
| Tennessee | $29,500 | $21,570 | $21,570 — $35,970 | 7,690 |
| Arkansas | $29,230 | $24,440 | $24,440 — $36,040 | 2,560 |
| Montana | $28,050 | $22,930 | $22,930 — $38,230 | 2,370 |
| South Dakota | $27,840 | $25,560 | $25,560 — $34,700 | 1,610 |
| Louisiana | $27,370 | $20,730 | $20,730 — $44,350 | 1,090 |
| Alabama | $25,340 | $18,170 | $18,170 — $30,020 | 9,290 |
| Nevada | $24,960 | $24,960 | $24,960 — $40,620 | 6,600 |
| Oklahoma | $23,770 | $18,300 | $18,300 — $42,550 | 4,990 |
| Mississippi | $22,340 | $16,430 | $16,430 — $33,320 | 2,390 |
Ranked 674 of 788 by median pay
Better paid than 14% of the occupations in the survey.
- 672 Telephone Operators $41,740
- 673 Agricultural Equipment Operators $41,730
- 674 Substitute Teachers, Short-Term $41,670
- 675 Tailors, Dressmakers, and Custom Sewers $41,640
- 676 Personal Care and Service Workers, All Other $41,600
Resumes for substitute teachers, short-term
Name the job in the builder and the duties, skills and credentials it is screened on are written in for you.
- Enforced school and class rules to maintain order in the classroom.
- Answered students' questions.
- Followed lesson plans designed by absent teachers.
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.
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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Short-term substitute 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.
What people often ask
What is a short-term substitute teacher’s yearly income?
A short-term substitute teacher makes a median of $41,670 a year (2025 survey). The middle half earn between $34,170 and $54,890.
What is a short-term substitute teacher’s hourly pay rate?
The median pay rate is $20.03 an hour; the average is $46,420 a year.
What is the starting pay for a short-term substitute teacher?
Starting pay is usually near the 25th percentile, $34,170 a year, and sometimes as low as the 10th, $28,560.
Which state pays substitute teachers, short-term the most?
Alaska, with a median of $66,920 a year.
How many people work as substitute teachers, short-term?
About 524,770 in the United States — number 674 of 788 occupations by median pay.
Work that pays about the same
Median pay within $80 of what substitute teachers, short-term earn — $41,670 a year — but not always the same spread.
- $70 more Telephone Operators $41,740median a year 10th percentile: $31,510 90th percentile: $62,950
- $70 less Personal Care and Service Workers, All Other $41,600median a year 10th percentile: $27,480 90th percentile: $48,910
- $80 less Food Cooking Machine Operators and Tenders $41,590median a year 10th percentile: $31,680 90th percentile: $54,410