Special Educator Salary

Q: How much does a Special Educator make?

Special educators make $49,937 per year on average, or $24.01 per hour, in the United States. Special educators on the lower end of that spectrum, the bottom 10% to be exact, make roughly $35,000 a year, while the top 10% makes $69,000. Location impacts how much a special educator can expect to make. Special educators make the most in Maryland, Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, and Alaska.

Updated July 11, 2022

Average Special Educator Salary

$49,937 yearly
To create our salary estimates, Zippia starts with data published in publicly available sources such as the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), Foreign Labor Certification Data Center (FLC) Show More

$24.01 hourly

Entry level Salary

$35,000 yearly

$35,000

10 %

$49,937

Median

$69,000

90 %

How much does a Special Educator make?

Special educators make $49,937 per year on average, or $24.01 per hour, in the United States. Special educators on the lower end of that spectrum, the bottom 10% to be exact, make roughly $35,000 a year, while the top 10% makes $69,000.

Location impacts how much a special educator can expect to make. Special educators make the most in Maryland, Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, and Alaska.

Highest Paying States For Special Educators

The darker areas on the map show where special educators earn the highest salaries across all 50 states.

State View
County View

Average Salary:

Special Educator average salary by State

Rank	State	Avg. Salary	Hourly Rate	Job Count
1	Connecticut	$68,375	$32.87	652
2	Maryland	$72,748	$34.98	845
3	Alaska	$62,684	$30.14	140
4	New Jersey	$62,986	$30.28	1,103
5	Delaware	$55,192	$26.53	209
6	New York	$62,952	$30.27	1,469
7	Pennsylvania	$52,161	$25.08	1,625
8	District of Columbia	$70,765	$34.02	152
9	Kentucky	$46,724	$22.46	744
10	Illinois	$50,772	$24.41	1,725
11	Ohio	$50,092	$24.08	1,361
12	Massachusetts	$62,156	$29.88	801
13	West Virginia	$59,299	$28.51	132
14	Rhode Island	$50,204	$24.14	156
15	New Hampshire	$45,790	$22.01	356
16	Texas	$52,997	$25.48	1,800
17	Vermont	$45,593	$21.92	179
18	Michigan	$46,768	$22.48	1,255
19	California	$55,308	$26.59	2,746
20	Wyoming	$44,001	$21.15	113
21	Nevada	$43,382	$20.86	629
22	Georgia	$51,842	$24.92	742
23	Nebraska	$42,946	$20.65	441
24	Oregon	$47,619	$22.89	520
25	Missouri	$43,757	$21.04	874
26	Tennessee	$45,183	$21.72	535
27	New Mexico	$41,998	$20.19	299
28	South Carolina	$44,179	$21.24	458
29	Washington	$46,578	$22.39	811
30	North Dakota	$42,159	$20.27	118
31	Louisiana	$44,019	$21.16	317
32	Alabama	$44,308	$21.30	305
33	Arizona	$40,197	$19.33	1,201
34	Virginia	$47,647	$22.91	751
35	North Carolina	$44,081	$21.19	850
36	Hawaii	$49,470	$23.78	80
37	Oklahoma	$39,991	$19.23	497
38	Indiana	$40,627	$19.53	771
39	Iowa	$41,397	$19.90	376
40	Florida	$42,925	$20.64	1,497
41	Wisconsin	$40,611	$19.52	627
42	Arkansas	$39,130	$18.81	347
43	Mississippi	$40,134	$19.30	238
44	Kansas	$39,693	$19.08	358
45	Maine	$37,497	$18.03	215
46	Montana	$33,410	$16.06	224
47	Colorado	$37,955	$18.25	831
48	Idaho	$32,602	$15.67	275
49	South Dakota	$35,446	$17.04	146
50	Minnesota	$37,747	$18.15	710
51	Utah	$35,396	$17.02	382

Highest Paying Cities For Special Educators

Rank	City	Avg. Salary	Hourly Rate
1	Baltimore, MD	$72,957	$35.08
2	Stratford, CT	$69,143	$33.24
3	Brick, NJ	$63,950	$30.75
4	New York, NY	$63,585	$30.57
5	Charleston, WV	$58,259	$28.01
6	Lompoc, CA	$56,051	$26.95
7	Houston, TX	$54,400	$26.15
8	Knoxville, TN	$47,096	$22.64
9	Seattle, WA	$46,982	$22.59
10	Danville, VA	$45,341	$21.80
11	Saint Louis, MO	$45,178	$21.72
12	Charleston, SC	$44,050	$21.18
13	Fort Lauderdale, FL	$43,121	$20.73
14	Denver, CO	$37,848	$18.20
15	Helena, MT	$33,246	$15.98

Special Educator Salary Details

What is a Special Educator's Salary?

Percentile	Annual Salary	Monthly Salary	Hourly Rate
90th Percentile	$69,000	$5,750	$33
75th Percentile	$59,000	$4,917	$28
Average	$49,937	$4,161	$24
25th Percentile	$42,000	$3,500	$20
10th Percentile	$35,000	$2,917	$17

Average Salary By Related Titles

Job Title	Annual Salary	Monthly Salary	Hourly Rate	Job Openings
Infant And Toddler Teacher	$28,749	$2,396	$13.82	63,094
Long Term Substitute Teacher	$45,651	$3,804	$21.95	69,133
Certified Teacher	$48,734	$4,061	$23.43	92,051
Toddler Teacher	$27,883	$2,324	$13.41	67,810
Learning Support Teacher	$34,145	$2,845	$16.42	120,054
Infant Teacher	$27,744	$2,312	$13.34	63,079

Here are the five companies hiring the most now:

Which Companies Pay Special Educators The Most?

According to our most recent salary estimates, SunnyvaleSD and Maxim Healthcare Group are the highest paying companies for special educators.

Rank	Company	Average Salary	Hourly Rate	Job Openings
1	SunnyvaleSD	$69,412	$33.37	35
2	Maxim Healthcare Group	$67,977	$32.68	227
3	Guthrie North America Inc	$67,068	$32.24	10
4	People Inc of Va	$66,862	$32.15	2
5	TheraCare	$66,398	$31.92	2
6	Bilingual Therapies	$66,308	$31.88
7	Prince George's County Memorial Library System	$65,638	$31.56
8	Pleasant Ridge	$65,270	$31.38
9	CARE	$65,065	$31.28	1
10	Palatine School District 15	$64,969	$31.24	18
11	K12	$64,914	$31.21	279
12	Erie 2-Chautauqua-Cattaraugus BOCES	$64,908	$31.21	323
13	Sunny Days	$64,210	$30.87	2
14	TLC - The Treatment and Learning Centers	$63,151	$30.36	19
15	USD 457 Garden City Public Schools	$61,782	$29.70	9
16	Stratford Board Of Education	$61,296	$29.47
17	Las Virgenes Unified School District	$61,097	$29.37
18	Saint Paul Public Schools	$60,615	$29.14
19	Township High School District 113	$60,142	$28.91	29
20	The City University of New York	$59,931	$28.81	3

Special Educator Salary Trends

Average Special Educator Salary Over Time

Compare salaries for individual cities or states with the national average.

Special Educator Salary By Year

Year	Avg. Salary	Hourly Rate	% Change
2022	$49,900	$24.01	+0.3%
2021	$49,800	$23.94	+1.8%
2020	$48,900	$23.52	+1.3%
2019	$48,300	$23.21	+2.7%
2018	$47,000	$22.59	+2.2%

Recently Added Special Educator Salaries

Company	Job	Location	Date Added	Salary
Democracy Prep Public Schools	High School Pace Special Educator	New York, NY	05/31/2022	$63,480
Tutor Doctor Chandler-Gilbert-Phoenix-Scottsdale-	Special Education Tutor	Casa Grande, AZ	05/28/2022	$41,740
Saint Paul Public Schools-#625	Tosa-Special Education	Saint Paul, MN	05/28/2022	$47,271
Denver Public Schools	Techear, Special Education Summer School, Moderate Needs, 9Th-12Th Grade	Denver, CO	05/26/2022	$84,419
Region VII Education Service Center	Secondary Special Education	League City, TX	05/23/2022	$60,000
State of Oklahoma	Special Educator I and II	Ada, OK	05/13/2022	$36,601
Auburn Union Elementary School District	Para-Educator Special Education School Year	Auburn, CA	05/08/2022	$32,015
Gwinnett County Public Schools	Tchr SP ED-RES Interrelated-Special Education (Language Arts)	Suwanee, GA	05/06/2022	$48,646
Kelly Services	Building Substitute Needed at Northwest Suburban Special Education Organization	Mount Prospect, IL	04/29/2022	$28,696
San Diego Unified	Special Education Certificated Pool	San Diego, CA	04/27/2022	$87,181

Special Educator Salaries FAQs

What state pays Special Educators the most?

Maryland pays Special Educators the most in the United States, with an average salary of $72,748 per year, or $34.98 per hour.

How do I know if I'm being paid fairly as a Special Educator?

You know if you are being paid fairly as a Special Educator if your pay is close to the average pay for the state you live in. For example, if you live in District of Columbia you should be paid close to $70,765 per year.

What type of Special Educator gets paid the most?

Summer School Teacher gets paid the most. Summer School Teacher made a median salary of $55,912. The best-paid 10 percent make $68,000, while the lowest-paid 10 percent make $45,000.

Have more questions? See all answers to common education, training, and library questions.

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