The average amount of money teachers earn per year varies widely across the world—but did you know that experienced teachers earn an average upwards of six figures in some countries, and less than $50,000 annually in others? A new data analysis from Visual Capitalist illuminates just how vast the disparity in teachers’ earnings is across OECD countries around the world.

The data reveals average starting salaries, average salaries after 15 years, and highest salaries, all for upper secondary teachers. The figures here come from OECD’s Education at a Glance 2025 report. See the results in the table below.

Where Teachers Earn the Most—and Least—Around the World

According to the data, Luxembourg paid teachers the most by far, offering them starting salaries of $99,621. After 15 years, teachers earned an average of $137,418 per year, and the highest-earning teachers made $173,165 per year. Germany, and Switzerland all paid their highest-earning teachers over $100,000.

The United States, meanwhile, offered an average starting salary of $52,893. Teachers earned $76,442 after 15 years on average, and the highest-paid secondary school educators in the country made an average of $83,410. Greece ranked lowest, with an average starting salary of just $23,363 that only increased to $30,627 after 15 years and peaked at $45,153.

These figures do not reflect the lower or higher extremes of how much teachers earn within the countries listed. In the United States, for example, some states pay teachers significantly more and less than what is listed here. California had the highest average teacher salary in the U.S. at $101,084, according to a 2025 report by the National Education Association. Meanwhile, Minnesota ranked lowest at an average of $48,900 per year. In the U.S., teachers also often report feeling underpaid due to longer hours and less pay than peers with comparable levels of education. 

Meanwhile, some nations have chosen to invest more money into teacher salaries, such as Luxembourg, which is known for its multilingual school system. The rankings also do not take into account countries that are not a part of OECD, such as Indonesia, where some estimates hold that teachers average $2,859 per year.  

The figures reported on the chart also do not take disparities in average costs of living into account. Still, they present a fascinating overview of just how different teacher salaries are across the globe.

Some studies have attempted to quantify the effects of higher teacher salaries on student performance, but little definitive evidence exists yet regarding a potential correlation between the two. However, some studies have linked higher teacher salaries to lower levels of student dropout rate, higher test scores, and more positive consequences.  

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