A total of 189 out of 685 school districts outside New York City last year had median classroom teacher pay over $100,000, according to data posted today on SeeThroughNY, the Empire Center’s government transparency website, up from 156 five years earlier.
All eight Rockland County school districts had median pay over $100,000 during school year 2022-23 as did 55 of Nassau’s 56 districts, five of Putnam’s six districts, 43 of Westchester’s 46 districts, 59 of Suffolk’s 69 districts and six of Ulster’s nine districts. Orange County had seven districts over $100,000, Dutchess had three, Erie had two and Albany had one.
At the county level, the highest median teacher pay levels were found in:
- Putnam ($125,360)
- Westchester ($121,837)
- Nassau ($120,484)
- Rockland ($119,469)
- Suffolk ($117,566)
Compared to five years earlier (2017-18) and not adjusting for inflation, the difference in county-level median pay ranged from 3 percent lower in Niagara County to 21 percent higher in The Bronx. The pay figures, collected by the state Education Department, do not include employer contributions toward health insurance, pensions, retiree health coverage or other benefits.
Within New York City, median pay topped $100,000 boroughwide in Staten Island and Queens, and in three Brooklyn districts, one Manhattan district and one Bronx district.
The district with the state’s highest median teacher pay was Mid-Hudson’s Scarsdale ($152,543). In other regions, the district with the highest median pay was:
- Cold Spring Harbor (Long Island) ($148,402)
- Sweet Home (Western NY) ($104,467)
- South Colonie (Capital Region) ($100,774)
- Utica (Mohawk Valley) ($84,322)
- Baldwinsville (Central NY) ($82,961)
- Greece (Finger Lakes) ($80,340)
- Schroon Lake (North Country) ($79,888)
- Hammondsport (Southern Tier) ($76,979)
Among the state’s 10 largest school districts, Yonkers had the highest median teacher pay at $139,893.
A district’s median pay reflects the pay scale set by the union collective bargaining agreement and where its teachers (based on seniority and degree attainment) fall on that pay scale. Teacher union contracts, pay records going back to 2008 for school administrators, teachers and other employees and other school data are searchable on SeeThroughNY.
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