Career and Technical Education Teacher Salary: What the Data Says (2026)

Career and technical education teachers earned a median wage of $66,270 in May 2025, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The median is the middle of the range, meaning half of career and technical education teachers earned more and half earned less. On an hourly basis that works out to about $31.86, though that figure comes with a caveat: most career and technical education teachers are salaried on a school-year contract of roughly nine to ten months, so the hourly number reflects contract hours rather than a true 40-hour, 52-week year. The mean, or average, wage was slightly higher at $72,680, which is common in teaching because a group of veteran, top-of-scale earners pulls the average up above the midpoint.

The spread from bottom to top is wide. The lowest-paid 10 percent of career and technical education teachers earned about $50,040, while the highest-paid 10 percent earned about $101,340 (BLS, May 2025). That gap of more than $50,000 is driven mostly by experience, education level, and geography rather than by the specific trade taught. A first-year teacher in a low-cost state sits near the bottom of that range, while a veteran with a master's degree and extra stipends in a high-paying state approaches the top.

What pushes someone toward the upper end is a combination of years on the job, additional degrees or endorsements, and the local pay scale. Advising a student organization, coaching, teaching summer school, or picking up an extra duty period often adds stipends on top of the base contract. Because career and technical education teachers frequently come from industry, some also negotiate credit for prior work experience on the salary schedule, which can start them several steps above a brand-new academic teacher.

Geography is one of the biggest drivers of career and technical education teacher pay. The top-paying states are Washington, where the median reaches about $101,180, Connecticut at roughly $100,810, and Massachusetts at about $98,020, followed by New Jersey near $83,770, Rhode Island near $81,820, and California near $80,620 (BLS, May 2025). At the other end, medians fall to about $56,390 in Indiana, $56,070 in South Dakota, $55,190 in Montana, and $53,160 in Puerto Rico. The difference between the top and bottom states is nearly double.

Those raw numbers do not tell the whole story, because the highest-paying states also carry some of the highest costs of living. A six-figure median in Washington or the Northeast stretches less far against local housing and taxes than a smaller salary does in Indiana or South Dakota. When weighing an offer across state lines, a teacher is better off comparing pay against local rent, home prices, and state income tax than looking at the salary figure alone.

Career and technical education teacher pay rises steadily with experience, and the percentile bands are a rough map of a career. A newly licensed teacher tends to start near the 10th percentile, around $50,040, especially in a lower-paying state. As a teacher moves through the middle of their career, typically after a decade or more, their pay tends to land near the median of $66,270. Veterans with 20 or more years, an advanced degree, and stacked stipends can reach toward the 90th percentile near $101,340 (BLS, May 2025). The climb is real but gradual, and most of it happens inside a single district's schedule.

Public school pay usually follows a step-and-lane salary schedule. Each year of experience moves a teacher up a step, and each additional block of education, such as a master's degree or a set number of graduate credits, moves them into a higher lane. Progress is predictable but capped: once a teacher hits the top step and the highest lane, base raises come only from district-wide contract increases. One advantage specific to career and technical education is that many schedules grant credit for years of relevant industry experience, so someone entering teaching after a long career in their trade may start well above step one rather than at the very bottom.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics does not publish a specific projected growth rate for career and technical education teachers in the data behind this page, so the outlook is best read through the forces shaping demand rather than a single percentage. Overall, hiring for career and technical education teachers is steady and, in several fields, urgent. A large share of current teachers are approaching retirement age, and every departure creates an opening that districts must fill.

The harder challenge is supply. Career and technical education positions compete directly with private-sector wages in the same trade, so a skilled welder, nurse, electrician, or IT professional can often earn more staying in industry than moving into teaching. That makes fields like health sciences, skilled trades, and information technology chronic shortage areas, and districts frequently keep those postings open for months. Turnover among newer teachers, alternative licensure pathways designed to bring industry professionals into classrooms, and continued political and economic support for hands-on workforce training all keep demand for qualified career and technical education teachers healthy.

For someone entering the field, the practical takeaway is that a candidate with real industry experience and a valid license is well positioned, especially in a high-demand program area. The competition is not other applicants so much as the industry salaries pulling qualified people away from teaching.