In a new national report on average teacher pay, North Carolina dropped three spots to 46th in the nation. The state also ranked 46th in per-student spending, down seven spots from last year. Those rankings from the National Education Association are based on estimates for the current 2025-2026 school year.
"Every year, the story for North Carolina continues to get worse," said North Carolina Association of Educators President Tamika Walker Kelly.
The NEA's annual report on educator pay and school statistics is the gold standard for ranking teacher pay and school funding across states. NEA researchers rely on data from state departments of education to estimate average teacher salaries for the current school year.
Walker Kelly highlighted that North Carolina teacher pay is now in sharp contrast with its neighboring states.
"You cannot build a stable, high quality educator workforce when the state next door is offering thousands more per year," said Walker Kelly.
NC's per-student spending is $5,000 less than national average
North Carolina is estimated to spend about $5,000 less per child than the national average in 2026, spending about $13,680 per student. As other states have increased their public school funding, North Carolina has fallen nine spots in this ranking in just two years.
"The downward trend in our rankings reflects the choices of a General Assembly that has spent years funneling public money away from public schools through corporate tax cuts," said Walker Kelly.
In a press conference, she called on teachers to join NCAE's march in Raleigh this Friday to demand better school funding.
The primary reason that North Carolina fell in rankings for the current school year is because North Carolina is the only state that hasn't passed a budget this year. As other states increased their public school funding, North Carolina fell further behind.
While acknowledging the need for a budget, NCAE's rally this week that's expected to draw thousands of educators is not focused merely on the passage of a budget. Instead, NCAE's "Kids Over Corporations" campaign is centering on its demands to end planned corporate tax cuts that are scheduled to zero out corporations' contributions to state taxes by 2030.
"The cruel irony is that the corporations benefiting most from the tax cuts are the same exact ones that depend on public schools to educate their future workforce. They are getting a subsidy paid for by teachers," Walker Kelly said.
In its campaign, NCAE is calling for a 25% across-the-board raise to teacher pay in North Carolina.
North Carolina is only state to see average teacher pay decrease this year
High School English teacher Stephanie Wallace said she pays close attention to the annual ranking of teacher pay.
"It is extremely infuriating and disheartening to see the numbers continue to drop," said Wallace, who teaches at East Forsyth High. "I know personally I'm spending more money in my classroom than I have in ages."
Wallace said she also works two extra jobs throughout the year. In addition to her classroom teaching, she works for the NC Virtual Public School and is a waitress at Chili's.
Wallace has been in the classroom 25 years, and she noted that North Carolina's recent budgets have done little to support veteran teachers. Since 2018, she said her salary rose 9%, while inflation rose more than 30%. Meanwhile, her healthcare costs on the state health plan have also gone up.
"So I am, in fact, making less than I was making about a decade ago," Wallace said.
The loss of teachers' buying power is a common refrain across the country. NPR reported that teachers' salaries — although rising nationally — are falling in spending power due to inflation. NEA researchers estimate that when adjusting for inflation, teachers' earnings have declined nationally by nearly 5% over the last ten years.
But this is especially pronounced in North Carolina, where the average teacher salary also declined in real dollars, even before being adjusted for inflation.
"This year, North Carolina is the only state in the country where average teacher salaries are projected to decrease," Walker Kelly said.
NCAE says that drop is due to the lack of a state budget in North Carolina holding salaries nearly flat combined with veteran teachers leaving the state.
Editor's note: In the latest report, North Carolina ranks 46th out of 50 states and the District of Columbia. Five states ranked lower: Missouri, West Virginia, Florida, Louisiana, and Mississippi.
