A total of 17 school district educators in the Mohawk Valley were paid more than $200,000 in fiscal year 2025-26, according to payroll data reported to the New York State Teachers’ Retirement System (NYSTRS). The highest paid was Utica City SD Superintendent Christopher Spence, at $281,875.

Statewide, the 239,288 public school teachers, superintendents, principals and other administrators employed outside New York City were paid a total of $19.4 billion, according to the Empire Center’s annual educator pay report. Full-time educators averaged $99,652. The Mohawk Valley’s 7,068 full-time educators averaged $80,038, sixth among the state’s nine regions outside New York City.

The Mohawk Valley includes six counties: Fulton, Hamilton, Herkimer, Montgomery, Oneida and Schoharie, as defined by the Office of the State Comptroller.

The full payroll data is available at SeeThroughNY.net.

School districts and BOCES in the Mohawk Valley paid their 9,581 educators a total of $591 million. A total of 15.4 percent were paid $100,000 or more, compared with 34.6 percent statewide.

Among the findings:

• Wells CSD (Hamilton County) had the region’s highest average pay for full-time educators, $94,407, followed by Utica City SD ($90,331) and Sherrill City SD ($89,292). West Canada Valley CSD had the lowest, $67,654.
• The region’s median full-year superintendent was paid $181,198, seventh of nine regions, compared with $215,922 statewide.
• School districts in the Mohawk Valley spent $9,112 in educator pay per student, the lowest of nine regions, compared with $12,345 statewide.
• In Fulton County, the median full-time educator was paid $80,147, 46 percent more than the median full-time worker living there ($54,900).

Ten Highest-Paid Educators – Mohawk Valley

Figures are gross pay reported to NYSTRS for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2026, and do not include fringe benefits such as health insurance and employer pension contributions. Full-time educators are those paid more than the annualized state minimum wage ($32,240). Tallies exclude community colleges, charter schools, the Education Department, vocational boards and the Fashion Institute of Technology.

Explore the Data

The tables below open filtered to the Mohawk Valley. Use the filters to see any other region.

Payroll records for every school district and BOCES can be searched at the Empire Center’s transparency website, SeeThroughNY.net.