Substitute Teachers, Short-Term salary

SOC 25-3031 · BLS OEWS May 2025

Median

$41,670

per year, nationally

Middle half

$34,170–$54,890

25th to 75th percentile

Employed

524,770

in the U.S.

Growth 2024–34

+1.6%

61,100 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.

$28,560$65,790

10th: $28,560
25th: $34,170
Median: $41,670
75th: $54,890
90th: $65,790

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 substitute teachers, short-term 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	Alaska	$66,920	102.4	1,420	1.30×
2	California	$60,300	110.7	115,660	1.88×
3	Hawaii	$58,530	110.0	3,990	1.89×
4	Oregon	$58,280	103.4	8,090	1.22×
5	Washington	$55,740	107.0	14,820	1.24×
6	Minnesota	$50,390	98.6	8,660	0.87×
7	District of Columbia	$49,790	109.9	750	0.31×
8	West Virginia	$49,020	89.5	4,840	2.05×
9	Maryland	$46,470	105.0	7,610	0.82×
10	Rhode Island	$45,590	102.3	1,910	1.13×
11	Pennsylvania	$44,870	97.6	22,360	1.09×
12	Wisconsin	$43,950	94.1	8,420	0.85×
13	New Jersey	$43,780	108.8	17,100	1.18×
14	New York	$43,490	107.9	36,090	1.10×
15	North Dakota	$42,570	89.0	420	0.29×
16	Massachusetts	$41,350	105.8	8,410	0.69×
17	Michigan	$39,500	96.2	3,600	0.24×
18	Illinois	$39,410	100.0	17,220	0.84×
19	Virginia	$39,020	101.1	24,350	1.76×
20	Georgia	$38,870	96.3	16,400	0.99×
21	Arizona	$38,500	100.7	4,710	0.43×
22	Connecticut	$38,460	103.6	5,950	1.04×
23	Vermont	$38,200	98.0	1,400	1.36×
24	Nebraska	$37,690	90.1	3,430	0.99×
25	Maine	$37,440	97.0	—	—
26	Iowa	$37,230	87.8	7,300	1.39×
27	Ohio	$37,150	92.8	9,140	0.49×
28	Florida	$37,080	103.4	25,270	0.75×
29	Wyoming	$36,990	92.7	2,230	2.35×
30	Delaware	$36,510	99.8	—	—
31	Utah	$36,490	98.9	4,710	0.80×
32	New Mexico	$36,400	92.2	3,510	1.19×
33	Indiana	$36,360	93.3	9,920	0.92×
34	Kansas	$36,190	90.1	9,360	1.93×
35	New Hampshire	$34,990	104.2	1,070	0.46×
36	Missouri	$34,790	90.8	11,480	1.16×
37	Idaho	$34,080	95.5	1,800	0.62×
38	North Carolina	$33,780	94.3	20,360	1.22×
39	Texas	$32,040	97.1	29,150	0.61×
40	South Carolina	$30,400	93.7	7,700	0.99×
41	Kentucky	$29,730	90.2	320	0.05×
42	Tennessee	$29,500	91.9	7,690	0.69×
43	Arkansas	$29,230	86.9	2,560	0.58×
44	Montana	$28,050	94.6	2,370	1.37×
45	South Dakota	$27,840	88.6	1,610	1.04×
46	Louisiana	$27,370	88.2	1,090	0.17×
47	Alabama	$25,340	88.8	9,290	1.30×
48	Nevada	$24,960	100.0	6,600	1.26×
49	Oklahoma	$23,770	87.8	4,990	0.87×
50	Mississippi	$22,340	87.0	2,390	0.61×

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 substitute teachers, short-term wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Best paying metro areas for substitute teachers, short-term

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	Anchorage, AK	$78,840	105.4	330	0.55×
2	Napa, CA	$76,520	112.6	300	1.12×
3	San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA	$72,330	110.4	3,800	0.99×
4	Bakersfield-Delano, CA	$66,480	100.9	5,390	4.73×
5	Vallejo, CA	$66,000	108.5	700	1.44×
6	Stockton-Lodi, CA	$65,190	105.1	3,060	3.13×
7	Salinas, CA	$63,970	109.0	1,220	1.94×
8	Modesto, CA	$63,440	104.1	1,990	3.03×
9	Eugene-Springfield, OR	$62,660	101.6	480	0.90×
10	La Crosse-Onalaska, WI-MN	$62,400	91.8	170	0.61×
11	Santa Maria-Santa Barbara, CA	$62,310	108.8	610	0.90×
12	Kahului-Wailuku, HI	$62,280	109.4	350	1.40×
13	Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA	$62,260	110.5	2,100	1.92×
14	Yuba City, CA	$61,710	104.2	370	2.14×
15	Hanford-Corcoran, CA	$61,590	101.6	210	1.29×
16	Santa Rosa-Petaluma, CA	$61,290	107.8	1,430	2.06×
17	Longview-Kelso, WA	$61,260	97.5	230	1.67×
18	Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA	$61,190	105.4	4,110	1.01×
19	Chico, CA	$61,030	101.2	450	1.70×
20	San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA	$60,790	115.6	10,570	1.32×
21	Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA	$60,780	106.4	15,430	2.66×
22	Merced, CA	$60,770	98.3	1,450	5.42×
23	Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA	$60,070	111.1	7,220	1.02×
24	St. Cloud, MN	$59,980	87.6	70	0.21×
25	Santa Cruz-Watsonville, CA	$59,900	109.9	1,070	3.22×
26	San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA	$59,860	111.9	9,480	1.83×
27	Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA	$59,780	106.7	6,510	1.78×
28	Rochester, MN	$59,510	90.8	240	0.57×
29	Corvallis, OR	$59,030	104.0	30	0.24×
30	San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles, CA	$58,620	108.6	680	1.66×
31	Urban Honolulu, HI	$58,520	111.0	2,900	1.92×
32	Beckley, WV	$58,250	88.4	500	3.41×
33	Redding, CA	$57,460	100.7	200	0.81×
34	Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA	$57,210	113.6	35,740	1.69×
35	Bend, OR	$56,600	103.6	700	1.92×
36	Visalia, CA	$56,040	99.8	1,880	3.25×
37	Bremerton-Silverdale-Port Orchard, WA	$55,950	105.6	450	1.44×
38	Bellingham, WA	$55,740	103.3	600	1.94×
39	Albany, OR	$55,740	102.1	90	0.55×
40	Medford, OR	$55,580	101.4	460	1.53×

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 substitute teachers, short-term wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Similar occupations

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

Self-Enrichment Teachers$46,800
Tutors$43,350
Teachers and Instructors, All Other$66,140
Adult Basic Education, Adult Secondary Education, and English as a Second Language Instructors$61,540