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“An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.” – Benjamin Franklin
Every day, North Carolinians entrust the general welfare and education of nearly 1.4 million K-12 public school students to approximately 92,000 public school teachers and 22,000 instructional staff. North Carolina’s reputation as an educational leader was well known throughout the country in the early 2000s, and the quality of our public school teachers has historically made our state attractive to new families and businesses.
Extensive research pointing to the critical role teachers play in student achievement highlights the importance of making sure North Carolina has a strong, well-supported teaching force. According to Measuring the Impacts of Teachers II: Teacher Value-Added and Student Outcomes in Adulthood, a report for the American Economic Association, having a quality teacher positively impacts a student’s future. The report showed that students with quality teachers were “…more likely to attend college, earn higher salaries, and [were] less likely to have children as teenagers.” Quality teachers with experience, advanced degrees, proper compensation, and subject-specific certification all contribute to student achievement. When teachers are not properly supported, the impact on children can be devastating.
However, since 2011, the NC General Assembly (NCGA) has systematically cut teacher benefits and given lower-than-inflation pay raises, severely diminishing the conditions for the state’s public school educators and crippling the recruitment and retention of our teaching professionals. Each legislative session, the NCGA has the opportunity to reverse course and send the message that it values public education and our teachers. An essential step is to adjust the base salaries (paid by the state) to a competitive level.
Teacher Salaries in North Carolina
The State Salary Schedule, which sets North Carolina teachers’ base (minimum) salary, starts certified beginning teachers with a bachelor’s degree and no experience at $41,000 in 2024-25..
North Carolina has the lowest starting salary of states in the southern region that publish a state minimum salary schedule. (See references for links to state schedules.)
What salary advances can North Carolina’s teachers expect throughout their career? Currently, the top salary on the North Carolina salary schedule is $55,950, which a teacher reaches after 25 years in the profession. With the additional 12% from National Board Certification, 25+ year teachers can increase their base salary to $62,660. However, between years 15 and 24, the North Carolina base salary stays at $53,880 ($60,350 with National Board Certification) with zero growth.
The minimum salary trajectory for the southern region also shows that for most years North Carolina’s minimum salary lags behind other states except for a few years when the minimum salary slightly outpaces South Carolina, West Virginia and Mississippi. But because the North Carolina state salaries are frozen during years 15 through 24, it soon falls back to the lowest in the region. This creates a clear competitive disadvantage for North Carolina in attracting and retaining teachers. Teachers don’t have to move very far to experience a much better financial situation.
The state salary schedule tells only part of the salary story. In North Carolina, districts may use local funds to supplement the state base pay to attract applicants and pay a more professional salary. This creates disparities between districts that can afford local supplements and districts that cannot. The local salary supplements in 2023-24 ranged from $10,650 in Chapel Hill/Carrboro School District to $0 in Caswell County, Graham County, and Weldon City Schools. The two largest districts, Wake County and Charlotte-Mecklenburg have the second and third highest supplements, at $9,797 and $9,828 respectively, in part because the cost of living is so high in these areas. (See an interactive map of supplement by county.)
Calculations for average teacher pay include the additional boost from local supplements, so salary averages are higher than the values on the state salary schedule. Each year, the National Education Association (NEA) calculates average teacher salaries for states across the nation. Their 2024 report (using FY 2022-23 data) estimated the average teacher salary in North Carolina to be $56,559, which put N.C. salaries ahead of several surrounding states. However, N.C.’s average was $13,038 less than the national average of $69,597 and ranked 38th in the nation. The same report ranked N.C.’s average teacher starting salary 42nd in the nation. Since 2021-22, many surrounding states have bolstered teacher salaries to keep up with inflation and retain qualified teachers. Unfortunately, North Carolina has not kept up, as shown in the 2024-25 minimum state salaries shown below.
Teacher salaries in North Carolina are stagnant and have not risen alongside the cost of living. Between 2021-22 and 2022-23, average salaries increased only 2.63%. The following year, average salaries increased 3.09%, but this increase ranked in the bottom half of all states.
During the 2024 legislative short session, the NCGA had the opportunity to give teachers a substantial pay raise. However, instead of giving teachers the salary increase they deserve, the legislature added $480 million to the private school voucher fund. This money could have gone toward paying our teachers a competitive wage rather than to a program that depletes our public schools. While the 2023 Appropriations Act did allocate some funds to increase salaries in 2024-25, the increases vary depending on years of experience. Between the 2023-24 and 2024-25 school years, the salary for a first-year teacher increased by $2,000, a 5.13% bump. However, teachers with 7 years to 25+ years of experience received a salary increase of 2% or less. For example, teachers in their 15th through 24th years of teaching made only $820 more in 2024-25 than in 2023-24, a 1.55% increase. These increases fall far short of recent inflation rates.
In February 2024, the NCGA Fiscal Research Division presented a comparison of the salaries of state-funded careers (e.g. teachers, deputy clerks of court, magistrates, correctional officers). Only deputy clerks of court have lower starting salaries than teachers, and after the 7th year, their salaries are higher. Four of the seven careers reach their salary maximum at 6 years, a full 19 years before teachers reach their maximum. Teachers’ maximum salaries are second from the bottom, higher only than state highway patrol officers.
Benefit offerings complement the teacher salary structure and affect the profession’s desirability. According to the NCGA Fiscal Research Division, when compared to its neighboring states, North Carolina has the lowest total benefit value for active medical, retiree medical, and pension/defined contribution combined.
From 2021 forward, North Carolina stopped offering new teachers a retiree medical benefit (green bar). This, in addition to North Carolina’s weak salary structure, makes surrounding states even more attractive options for future and current teachers.
North Carolina has not always compared so poorly to surrounding states or the national average. For many years, North Carolina’s average was just slightly below the national average. Especially after 2010, the gap grew much wider.
The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) data on average teacher salaries from 1969 through 2022 reveals that in 1999-2000 the average salary for a teacher in North Carolina was $39,404.
When adjusted for inflation that salary is $73,674in today’s dollars, more than $17,000 higher than the current North Carolina average teacher salary.
Conclusion
North Carolina is known for its highly accredited educators, leading the nation in the number of teachers who have earned National Board Certification. Despite being highly qualified, these teachers are not properly compensated for their work, causing new and veteran educators to leave the profession. In a 2021 interview about teacher salaries and the 2021-23 budget, Gina Guzzo, a former Wake County educator says, “…the really great feeling you have when you’re teaching and helping kids, that isn’t something that pays your mortgage or pays your water bill…so ultimately, that was a definite big factor in why I decided to leave.”
In a March 2024 presentation to the State Board of Education on the 2022-2023 State of the Teaching Profession Report, staff shared that teacher attrition had risen to 11.5% over the last year, up from 7.78% in 2021-22 and higher than it had been for nearly two decades. These departures, coupled with fewer teachers entering the profession should motivate our state legislators to take quick and decisive action to improve conditions for teachers.
Raising salaries substantially is an essential first step. We need to pay our teachers like their job is the most important job on our children’s journey to become successful citizens…because it is.
Resources and References
ABC 11 Staff (2021 Nov. 18). Additional State Budget Supplement for Teachers Excludes Wake, Durham School Districts. ABC 11. Retrieved Feb. 28, 2022.
Alabama State Department of Education. (2024). Alabama State Minimum Salary Schedules.
Brown, M., and Owens, A. (2021 Dec. 10). High Inflation Could Last into Next Year, NC Economist Says. WRAL. Retrieved Feb. 28, 2022.
Chetty, R., Friedman, J. N., & Rockoff, J. E. (2014). Measuring the Impacts of Teachers II: Teacher Value-Added and Student Outcomes in Adulthood. The American Economic Review, 104(9), 2633–2679.
Georgia Department of Education. (2024). State Salary Schedule (Level PROF-4).
Kentucky Department of Education. (2024). Teacher Salary Schedule 2024-2025 (Rank III).
Mississippi Department of Education. (2024). MAEP Salary Schedule FY 2024-2025 (Level A).
National Center for Education Statistics (2008). Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS). [Data Set] U.S. Department of Education.
National Center for Education Statistics (2021). Table 211.60. Estimated Average Annual Salary of Teachers in Public Elementary and Secondary Schools, by State: Selected Years, 1969-70 through 2020-21. [Data Set] U.S. Department of Education.
National Education Association. (2023 April). Teacher Pay and Student Spending: How Does Your State Rank?
National Education Association Research. (2024 April). Rankings of the States 2023 and Estimates of School Statistics 2024.
National Education Association Research. (2023 April). Rankings of the States 2022 and Estimates of School Statistics 2023.
North Carolina Department of Public Instruction. (2024). North Carolina State Salary Schedules.
North Carolina Fiscal Research Division. (2024). Teacher Compensation and Benefits: Consideration for the House Select Committee on Education Reform
North Carolina Fiscal Research Division. (2022). Teacher Compensation and Benefits: Consideration for the House Select Committee on An Education System for North Carolina’s Future
North Carolina Fiscal Research Division. (2021). Teacher Compensation and Benefits. [PowerPoint Slides]. Fiscal Research Division. Retrieved Feb. 28, 2022.
NC Department of Public Instruction Staff (2021, Nov. 18). Summary of 2021-22 Budget SL2021-180. Financial & Business Services NC Department of Public Instruction. Retrieved Feb. 28, 2022.
South Carolina Department of Education. (2024). State Minimum Teacher Salary Schedule (Class 3).
West Virginia Department of Education. (2024). Professional and Service Personnel State Minimum Required Salary Schedules for the 2024-25 Year. (Basic A.B. + State Supplement A.B.)
Last updated February 2025