Keeping Up or Falling Behind?

Published June 1, 2002

Data from the American Federation of Teachers 2000 teacher salary survey show that, despite annual increases, the relative salaries teachers have declined over time.

  • Nationally, a teacher’s average salary for 1999-2000 was $41,820, up 3.2 percent from the previous year. During the same interval, there was a 3.4 percent increase in the consumer price index and a 6.2 percent increase in the per-capita gross domestic product.
  • In 1990, the teacher’s average salary was 20 percent higher than that of a full-time worker in the United States. Over the last decade, however, relative to the average worker, teachers have lost ground. In the 1999-2000 school year, the teacher advantage had fallen to 10 percent.
  • In 2000, teachers earned 5 percent more than other government employees, less than the 12 percent advantage teachers enjoyed in 1990.

Table 2
Teacher Salary Compared to
Inflation and Gross Domestic Product Per Capita
Year Teacher’s
Average Salary
Consumer Price Index Teacher’s Average Salary (2000 Dollars) Gross Domestic Product
(per capita)
Teacher Salary to per Capita GDP Ratio
1990 $31,347 133.8 $40,765 $22,189 1.41
1991 $32,960 137.9 $41,588 $22,647 1.46
1992 $33,927 141.9 $41,602 $23,637 1.44
1993 $35,004 145.8 $41,774 $24,600 1.42
1994 $35,764 149.7 $41,569 $25,818 1.39
1995 $36,766 153.6 $41,649 $26,722 1.38
1996 $37,564 158.6 $41,211 $28,849 1.30
1997 $38,415 161.5 $41,388 $30,278 1.27
1998 $39,360 164.0 $41,760 $32,373 1.22
1999 $40,540 168.3 $41,91 $34,063 1.19
2000 $41,820 174.0 $41,820 $36,172 1.16
Source: F. Howard Nelson, Rachel Drown, Jewell C. Gould, the Research & Information Services Department, American Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO, Survey & Analysis of Teacher Salary Trends 2000 (Washington, DC: 2001). Available online at http://www.aft.