According to a late October 2026 analysis by the Brown Center on Education Policy at the Brookings Institution, public school teacher pay in the U.S. lags significantly when compared to other industrialized countries. In fact, examining average pay for teachers at the primary school level versus that of other college graduates across more than 30 countries, Brookings found the U.S. ranked last. It also found that its primary school teachers earn about two-thirds of what other college graduates are paid annually.
That pay gap is wider than what the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) has found in its ongoing teacher pay penalty studies whereby a late August EPI report showed U.S. teachers in 2025 earned about 25% less than college graduates in other professions.
For more from K-12 Dive, click here.