August 20, 2003 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Employment and wages in elementary and secondary schools

Nationwide, on average, teachers in elementary and secondary schools earned $44,120 per year in 2001.

[Chart data—TXT]

Mean annual salaries for teachers ranged from $31,847 in Montana to $59,615 in New York. On average, teacher support workers earn half as much as teachers, at $22,180. The average administrative salary in the elementary and secondary schools industry was $66,690 per year in 2001, about one and a half times the teachers’ average salary.

There are about 3.6 million teachers in elementary and secondary schools nationwide, about 1 million teacher support workers, and about 300,000 administrative workers. In addition, there are close to 3 million workers in other occupations, such as counselors and school bus drivers.

These data are from the BLS Occupational Employment Statistics program. To learn more, see Occupational Employment and Wages, 2001, Bulletin 2559, June 2003. "Teacher support workers" includes librarians, library technicians, audio-visual collections specialists, instructional coordinators, and teacher assistants. "Administrative workers" include employees in managerial, business, and financial occupations. Besides counselors and school bus drivers, "other occupations" include food service workers, janitors, and clerical workers.