AkilNYC / Education
Who works in NYC public schools, and what they are paid
Department of Education staff on salary, by job, from June 2019 to June 2025, plus the teacher pay scale and median pay for common school jobs.
June 2019 to June 2025 · Updated 2026-09-24
- All teachers
- 76,370 → 76,869+499On the payroll June 30, 2019 → 2025
- General-education teachers
- 52,863 → 49,700−3,163
- Special-education teachers
- 23,507 → 27,169+3,662
- School social workers
- 1,587 → 2,374+787
Salaried staff by role
Employees paid an annual salary and working on June 30 of each year. June 2023 is the last count before enrollment rose in 2023–24.
| Role | June 2019 | June 2025 | Change | June 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| General-education teachers | 52,863 | 49,700 | −3,163 | 48,993 |
| Special-education teachers | 23,507 | 27,169 | +3,662 | 25,997 |
| Paraprofessionals (classroom aides) | 25,203 | 24,789 | −414 | 23,444 |
| Principals | 1,676 | 1,698 | +22 | 1,687 |
| Assistant principals | 3,376 | 3,363 | −13 | 3,298 |
| School counselors | 2,886 | 3,293 | +407 | 3,209 |
| School social workers | 1,587 | 2,374 | +787 | 2,302 |
| School psychologists | 1,327 | 1,504 | +177 | 1,435 |
| Occupational and physical therapists | 2,555 | 3,073 | +518 | 2,871 |
| Nurses | 678 | 608 | −70 | 592 |
| School secretaries | 2,913 | 2,887 | −26 | 2,815 |
| Family and community staff | 2,967 | 3,886 | +919 | 3,411 |
| All other salaried staff | 10,517 | 8,989 | −1,528 | 8,580 |
| Total | 132,055 | 133,333 | +1,278 | 128,634 |
Over the same years, students with disabilities in New York City Public Schools went from 213,216 to 208,339 and English Language Learners from 140,551 to 153,190 (2018–19 → 2024–25).
Teacher pay
- Starting salary, bachelor’s
- $71,314Union contract rate as of September 2026
- Starting salary, master’s
- $80,166New York requires a master’s within 5 years
- Median base pay, teachers
- $110,848All employees with the title, 2024–25
- Top of the scale
- $150,236Master’s degree plus 30 graduate credits, top of the scale with long-service raises
Median base pay by school job, 2024–25
Base pay only; excludes overtime, extra pay for after-school and summer work, health benefits and pensions.
Where payroll growth came from
For eight core school jobs, annual base pay for staff active on June 30 rose from $9.20 billion in 2019 to $11.04 billion in 2025, an increase of $1.85 billion.
About $0.15 billion of that increase came from changes in the number of people. About $1.70 billion came from higher average pay under the union contracts.
Notes
- Counts are salaried employees on the city payroll on June 30 of each year.
- Median pay covers all employees with the job title during the year (July to June).
- The eight jobs: general- and special-education teachers, paraprofessionals, principals, assistant principals, education administrators, school counselors and school social workers.
Sources
Look up any NYC school
Enrollment, spending, test results and demographics for 1,936 schools, with sources.
Open the school explorer →askakil.ai/schools
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