How Many Teachers Are There in the US? (Updated for 2025)

Report Highlights

By 2023, the number of teachers nationwide in public and private elementary and secondary schools was approximately 4,007,908.
In 2023, there were 3,152,000 public school teachers in the United States.
The same year, the total number of instructional staff in public schools was not specified, but the number of teachers was 3,152,000.
This allowed for a student to teacher ratio of 15.8 overall, with 15.8 on average at public schools and 12.0 on average at private schools.
Projections estimate a total of 3,909,000 teachers in the United States by 2029, with 3,390,000 in public schools and 520,000 at private schools, allowing for a student to teacher ratio of 15.5 overall, and 15.5 at public schools and 10.7 at private schools.

Other statistics: US Literacy Statistics, Average Private School Tuition, Average Community College Cost.

Number of Teachers over Time

In 1955, there were 1,286,000 teachers in the United States in public and private elementary and secondary schools.
Of these, 1,141,000 were public school teachers.
The same year, 145,000 of these teachers were private school teachers.
This allowed for a student to teacher ratio of 27.4 overall, with 26.9 at public schools and 31.7 at private schools in 1955, on average.
By 1995, there were 2,974,000 teachers in the United States between all public, private, elementary, and secondary schools.
The same year, there were 2,598,000 public school teachers and 376,000 private school teachers.
This allowed for a student to teacher ratio of 17.1 overall, and 17.1 at public schools and 15.7 at private schools, on average in 1995.
By 2018, the number of teachers nationwide in public and private elementary and secondary schools was 3,652,000.
At public schools, there were 3,170,000 and at private schools there were 482,000.
This allowed for a student to teacher ratio of 15.4 overall, with 16.0 on average at public schools and 11.9 on average at private schools.
The projected number of teachers nationwide for 2023 was about 3.8 million, with approximately 3.3 million at public schools and an estimated 500,000 at private schools.
This would allow for a student to teacher ratio of approximately 15.0 on average, which is about 15.5 at public schools and around 11.5 at private schools.
Projections estimate a total of 3,909,000 teachers in the United States by 2029, with 3,390,000 in public schools and 520,000 at private schools, allowing for a student to teacher ratio of 14.5 overall, and 15.1 at public schools and 11.0 at private schools.

Number of Public School Teachers and Instructional Staff by State 2019-2020 (Table)

State	Rank for Number of Teachers	Number of Teachers	Number of Instructional Staff	Students Enrolled per Teacher	Student- Teacher Ratio Rank
Alabama	25	46,451	53,633	15.6	20
Alaska	49	7,665	8,736	17.3	10
Arizona	17	62,045	67,593	18.3	7
Arkansas	31	31,977	37,062	15.0	28
California	2	293,619*	374,003*	21.0*	2
Colorado	20	57,546	70,462	15.9	17
Connecticut	27	41,689	52,006	12.7	41
Delaware	46	9,868*	11,255*	14.3*	32
District of Columbia	51	7,147*	8,204*	12.6*	44
Florida	4	142,527	195,640	20.0	4
Georgia	8	116,898	137,026	15.1	23
Hawaii	42	11,255	13,080*	16.1	16
Idaho	39	16,939	19,015	18.4	6
Illinois	5	130,389	144,987*	15.0	27
Indiana	16	62,203	72,025	16.9	11
Iowa	29	37,705	43,524	13.7	37
Kansas	30	35,525	40,061	13.9	36
Kentucky	28	39,879	46,180	16.3	13
Louisiana	24	47,938	61,216	15.0	26
Maine	41	14,907	16,961	12.2	45
Maryland	18	62,040	76,550	14.7	30
Massachusetts	14	75,152	87,504	12.6	42
Michigan	12	81,724	96,718	17.7	8
Minnesota	22	53,727	59,713	16.6	12
Mississippi	32	31,601	36,356	14.7	29
Missouri	13	75,466	85,073	11.6	48
Montana	44	10,686	12,383	14.0	34
Nebraska	35	25,324	28,420	13.0	39
Nevada	36	23,867	29,591	20.8	3
New Hampshire	40	16,560	18,518*	10.6	50
New Jersey	7	117,885	146,163	11.7	47
New Mexico	37	20,820	23,321	15.6	19
New York	3	212,777*	235,234*	12.0	46
North Carolina	11	93,923	109,977	15.1	24
North Dakota	45	10,174	11,811	11.1	49
Ohio	9	113,327*	145,053*	15.8	18
Oklahoma	26	43,280*	49,679	16.3	14
Oregon	34	30,096	34,273	19.4	5
Pennsylvania	6	119,963	138,821	14.4	31
Rhode Island	43	10,868	12,209*	13.2*	38
South Carolina	23	51,041*	60,995*	15.4	21
South Dakota	47	9,760	10,696	13.9	35
Tennessee	19	62,018	77,062	16.2	15
Texas	1	363,195	416,892	15.1	25
Utah	33	30,107	35,644	22.7	1
Vermont	48	8,321*	9,638*	10.4	51
Virginia	10	101,787	120,060	12.6	43
Washington	15	63,072	71,343	17.4	9
West Virginia	38	18,697	21,535	14.0	33
Wisconsin	21	55,960	67,048	15.3	22
Wyoming	50	7,283	7,971	12.9	40
Total	n/a	3,214,673	3,808,920	15.6 (average)	n/a

Source: See References 4, 5, and 7. For illustration purposes only
*Some figures include estimates as reported by NEA

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How Many Preschool Teachers are there in the US

The figures for preschool teachers also include kindergarten teachers. They may be employed by childcare centers, public schools, religious centers, and some other organizations.

In 2023, there were approximately 787,000 preschool and kindergarten teachers in the United States.
Of these, about 97.3% were female.
The percentage of preschool and kindergarten teachers employed by childcare centers was approximately 62%.
Elementary and secondary schools employed around 35% of preschool and kindergarten teachers.
Religious organizations employed approximately 1% of preschool and kindergarten teachers.

Here is our article on how long it takes to become a teacher.

How Many Elementary School Teachers are there in the US

There were 1.8 million public school teachers in the United States in the 2017-2018 school year, including both full-time and part-time teachers.
This represented an 11% increase in the number of teachers in the United States since the 1999-2000 school year, when there were 1.6 million elementary school teachers in the United States.

How Many High School Teachers are there in the US

During the 2017-2018 school year, United States public high schools employed a total of 1.8 million full-time and part-time teachers.
This was a 26% increase in public high school teachers since the 1999-2000 school year, which had 1.4 million teachers.

How Many Private School Teachers are there in the US

In the 2018-2019 school year, there were 482,000 teachers in private elementary and secondary schools in the United States.
This was approximately the same amount as the year before, 2017.
The resulting student to teacher ratio for private schools in 2018 was 11.9 students per private school teacher.
Projections estimate that by 2029 there will be 520,000 teachers in private elementary and secondary schools in the United States.
This would result in a student to teacher ratio of 11.0 students per teacher.

How Many Public School Teachers are there in the US

Overall, in the United States there were 3,214,673 teachers in United States elementary and secondary public school in the 2019-2020 school year.
This was a 0.53% increase from the previous year, when there were 3,197,623 teachers in elementary and secondary public schools in the United States.
This resulted in an overall student to teacher ratio in public schools of 15.6, which was a 0.63% decrease from the previous year of 15.7 students per teacher.
Projections estimate that by 2029, there will be 3,390,000 teachers in United States public elementary and secondary schools, resulting in a student to teacher ratio of 15.1 students per teacher.

Number of Public School Teachers by State

In the 2022-2023 school year, the state with the most public school teachers was Texas, with approximately 380,000 teachers.
This represented a 1.3% increase in the number of public school teachers for that state.
The state with the second highest number of public school teachers in the 2022-2023 school year was California with an estimated 300,000 teachers, which was a 1.7% increase from the previous school year.
The state with the least number of public school teachers in 2022-2023 was the District of Columbia, with an estimated 7,000 teachers, a 2.26% decrease from the previous school year.
Wyoming was the state with the second to the least number of public school teachers, having 7,283 teachers, which was a 1.18% increase in their number of teachers from the previous school year.
Nevada had the greatest increase in their number of public school teachers between the 2021-2022 and 2022-2023 school year, with a 8.53% increase in their number of teachers.
Nevada went from having 21,992 public school teachers in the 2021-2022 school year to 23,867 in the 2022-2023 school year, an increase of 1,875 teachers.
Alaska had the greatest decrease in the number of public school teachers from the 2021-2022 to the 2022-2023 school year, having lost 2.79% of their teachers.
Alaska had 7,885 public school teachers in the 2021-2022 school year, but only 7,665 public school teachers in the 2022-2023 school year, a decrease of 220 teachers.
These figures translated into Utah having the highest ratio of students to teachers, with 22.7 students enrolled per teacher.
California had the second highest ratio of students to teachers, with 21.0 students enrolled per teacher.
Vermont had the lowest student to teacher ratio, with only 10.4 students enrolled per teacher.
The state with the next to the lowest student to teacher ratio was New Hampshire, with 10.6 students enrolled per teacher.

Number of Public School Instructional Staff by State

Instructional staff at schools includes both full-time teachers as well as staff who participate in teaching students in other capacities such as speech language pathologists, librarians, occupational therapists and many others.

The state with the most public school instructional staff in the 2022-2023 school year was Texas, with approximately 450,000 instructional staff.
After Texas, California was the state with the second most public school instructional staff, having 400,000 instructional staff.
The same year, the state with the least public school instructional staff was Wyoming with only 8,000.
The District of Columbia had the second to the least number of public school instructional staff, with only 9,000 during the 2022-2023 school year.
The state with the greatest increase in the number of public school instructional staff between the 2021-2022 school year and the 2022-2023 school year was Nevada, with a 9.12% increase, resulting in the addition of 2,472 instructional staff for the 2022-2023 school year.
Alaska had the greatest decrease in the number of public school instructional staff members between the 2021-2022 and 2022-2023 school year, with a 2.51% drop resulting in 225 fewer public school instructional staff members.