Special Education Teachers, Middle School salary

SOC 25-2057 · BLS OEWS May 2025

Median

$66,810

per year, nationally

Middle half

$60,000–$82,800

25th to 75th percentile

Employed

95,200

in the U.S.

Growth 2024–34

-1.9%

6,300 openings/yr

What the range looks like

A single median hides most of what a job pays. The bar below is the full national range: the wash spans the 10th to 90th percentile, the solid bar is the middle half, and the tick is the median.

$49,420$102,510

10th: $49,420
25th: $60,000
Median: $66,810
75th: $82,800
90th: $102,510

Getting in

Typical education to enter: Bachelor's degree
Related work experience: None
On-the-job training: None

Entry requirements describe what is typical, not mandatory. Source: BLS Employment Projections, 2024–34.

Where special education teachers, middle school earn the most

Nominal pay and pay adjusted for local prices rank states differently — a high-wage state with high costs can be worse off in real terms than a middling one. Switch between the two below.

The median wage as published, before local prices are taken into account.

#	State	Median	Cost of living	Employed	Concentrationvs. national
1	California	$101,530	110.7	4,860	0.44×
2	Washington	$99,520	107.0	1,550	0.71×
3	Rhode Island	$93,970	102.3	380	1.24×
4	New York	$93,820	107.9	7,870	1.33×
5	Connecticut	$92,900	103.6	1,260	1.21×
6	Massachusetts	$84,550	105.8	3,110	1.40×
7	Alaska	$81,000	102.4	200	0.99×
8	District of Columbia	$79,170	109.9	520	1.21×
9	New Jersey	$79,110	108.8	5,660	2.16×
10	Utah	$78,920	98.9	690	0.65×
11	Oregon	$78,360	103.4	590	0.49×
12	Delaware	$77,420	99.8	—	—
13	Pennsylvania	$77,040	97.6	3,710	1.00×
14	Maryland	$76,410	105.0	1,540	0.91×
15	Michigan	$76,040	96.2	1,410	0.52×
16	Illinois	$74,730	100.0	4,460	1.19×
17	Ohio	$74,590	92.8	7,540	2.22×
18	New Mexico	$74,440	92.2	1,090	2.04×
19	Vermont	$73,110	98.0	470	2.54×
20	Georgia	$70,550	96.3	3,740	1.25×
21	New Hampshire	$66,760	104.2	650	1.55×
22	Colorado	$66,130	103.1	2,020	1.15×
23	Wisconsin	$65,840	94.1	2,650	1.47×
24	Montana	$63,960	94.6	190	0.60×
25	Virginia	$63,820	101.1	3,000	1.19×
26	Minnesota	$63,630	98.6	1,930	1.07×
27	Iowa	$63,590	87.8	990	1.04×
28	Nebraska	$63,460	90.1	680	1.08×
29	Maine	$63,440	97.0	310	0.80×
30	Texas	$63,360	97.1	12,580	1.46×
31	Nevada	$63,280	100.0	290	0.31×
32	Alabama	$62,850	88.8	460	0.36×
33	Wyoming	$62,770	92.7	330	1.90×
34	South Carolina	$62,310	93.7	980	0.70×
35	Arizona	$62,130	100.7	580	0.29×
36	Hawaii	$61,750	110.0	380	1.00×
37	Florida	$60,440	103.4	2,630	0.43×
38	Kentucky	$60,200	90.2	1,530	1.25×
39	Idaho	$60,170	95.5	300	0.58×
40	Tennessee	$60,000	91.9	1,310	0.65×
41	Kansas	$59,780	90.1	550	0.62×
42	Louisiana	$59,420	88.2	1,130	0.95×
43	North Carolina	$59,360	94.3	2,470	0.82×
44	Indiana	$58,900	93.3	1,070	0.54×
45	North Dakota	$57,680	89.0	200	0.74×
46	Arkansas	$56,830	86.9	750	0.94×
47	West Virginia	$56,440	89.5	1,080	2.51×
48	South Dakota	$51,360	88.6	310	1.10×
49	Mississippi	$50,750	87.0	1,020	1.44×
50	Oklahoma	$50,450	87.8	930	0.89×
51	Missouri	$50,370	90.8	1,050	0.58×

Cost of living is the BEA regional price parity for all items, where 100 is the national average. Concentration is the BLS location quotient: how much more of the local workforce does this job than the national average, so 2.00× means twice the national share. It is often the reason wages differ — a place that concentrates an occupation has the employers and the competition for it. States where special education teachers, middle school wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Best paying metro areas for special education teachers, middle school

The 40 highest-paying metros with a published estimate. BLS suppresses roughly half of all occupation-by-metro cells, so a metro absent here has no local figure rather than a low one.

The median wage as published, before local prices are taken into account.

#	Metro area	Median	Cost of living	Employed	Concentrationvs. national
1	San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA	$121,070	110.4	360	0.51×
2	Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA	$110,850	106.7	350	0.53×
3	Fresno, CA	$104,540	102.2	80	0.29×
4	Bremerton-Silverdale-Port Orchard, WA	$104,450	105.6	50	0.83×
5	Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater, WA	$103,880	103.7	70	0.88×
6	San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA	$103,580	115.6	—	—
7	Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA	$101,560	113.6	2,030	0.53×
8	Bellingham, WA	$101,120	103.3	50	0.98×
9	Salinas, CA	$100,840	109.0	40	0.35×
10	Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA	$100,350	111.1	720	0.56×
11	Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA	$99,190	106.4	520	0.49×
12	Kiryas Joel-Poughkeepsie-Newburgh, NY	$97,980	109.4	490	2.96×
13	Bridgeport-Stamford-Danbury, CT	$97,360	106.9	390	1.56×
14	Santa Rosa-Petaluma, CA	$97,000	107.8	—	—
15	Modesto, CA	$96,500	104.1	—	—
16	Salt Lake City-Murray, UT	$96,210	100.9	220	0.44×
17	New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ	$94,740	112.6	8,330	1.43×
18	Kingston, NY	$94,290	100.7	60	1.73×
19	Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, CT	$92,900	102.7	400	1.08×
20	Providence-Warwick, RI-MA	$92,130	101.8	670	1.52×
21	Barnstable Town, MA	$91,630	98.4	100	1.68×
22	Pittsfield, MA	$88,190	95.1	50	1.31×
23	Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA	$87,160	105.4	260	0.35×
24	Kennewick-Richland, WA	$85,190	100.1	80	1.03×
25	Salisbury, MD	$83,850	95.6	60	1.83×
26	Worcester, MA	$83,810	102.5	420	1.97×
27	Yakima, WA	$83,610	95.5	70	1.24×
28	Bend, OR	$83,110	103.6	70	0.99×
29	Brunswick-St. Simons, GA	$82,320	87.7	60	2.17×
30	Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA	$82,290	110.5	150	0.73×
31	Albany-Schenectady-Troy, NY	$81,800	99.6	330	1.20×
32	Ann Arbor, MI	$81,710	100.9	90	0.68×
33	Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH	$81,620	108.3	2,150	1.30×
34	Norwich-New London-Willimantic, CT	$81,570	100.4	150	1.92×
35	Provo-Orem-Lehi, UT	$81,350	98.2	—	—
36	Springfield, MA	$81,270	96.1	250	2.03×
37	Anchorage, AK	$81,140	105.4	110	1.01×
38	Waterbury-Shelton, CT	$81,040	99.8	130	1.35×
39	Spokane-Spokane Valley, WA	$80,970	100.3	150	0.96×
40	Boulder, CO	$80,960	105.2	150	1.26×

Cost of living is the BEA regional price parity for all items, where 100 is the national average. Concentration is the BLS location quotient: how much more of the local workforce does this job than the national average, so 2.00× means twice the national share. It is often the reason wages differ — a place that concentrates an occupation has the employers and the competition for it. Metro areas where special education teachers, middle school wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Similar occupations

Other jobs in the same field, with what each pays nationally.

Special Education Teachers, Middle School salary

What the range looks like

Getting in

Where special education teachers, middle school earn the most

Best paying metro areas for special education teachers, middle school

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