This report presents selected findings from the 2025 State of the American Teacher survey, an annual survey of kindergarten through grade 12 public school teachers in the United States. The reported findings focus on teacher well-being and a set of factors related to teacher retention: sources of job-related stress, pay, hours worked, and intentions to leave. The authors compare teachers’ responses with those of similar working adults.

Teacher Well-Being, Pay, and Intentions to Leave in 2025

Findings from the State of the American Teacher Survey

Elizabeth D. Steiner, Phoebe Rose Levine, Sy Doan, Ashley Woo

ResearchPublished Jun 24, 2025

This report presents selected findings from the 2025 State of the American Teacher survey, an annual survey of kindergarten through grade 12 public school teachers across the United States. The findings focus on teacher well-being and a set of high-interest factors related to teacher retention: sources of job-related stress, pay, hours worked, and teachers’ intentions to leave their current jobs. The authors track teachers’ reported well-being over time and compare teachers’ responses with those of similar working adults.

The findings in this report are descriptive and are intended to inform federal, state, and local education leaders and policymakers about the state of the teacher workforce, although the authors note that teachers’ perceptions and experiences likely vary by state and locality.

Key Findings

  • Teachers were more likely in 2025 than similar working adults to report experiencing poor well-being on every indicator—a consistent pattern since 2021.
  • Since 2021, female teachers have been consistently more likely to report experiencing frequent job-related stress and burnout than male teachers and male or female similar working adults.
  • The share of teachers who intended to leave their jobs fell to 16 percent in 2025 from 22 percent in 2024. Consistent with 2023 and 2024 findings, Black teachers were significantly more likely than White teachers to report intending to leave in 2025.
  • Teachers reported working a total of 49 hours per week, on average, in 2025. This was four hours less than in 2024 and 2023 and less than they reported working during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic. But it is ten hours more than the average number of hours teachers were contracted to work.
  • Teachers reported an average base salary of approximately $73,000 in 2025, a roughly 4-percent increase from 2024. Similar working adults reported average base salaries just over $103,000.
  • Nationally, Black teachers reported earning about $4,400 (6 percent) less than White teachers, on average, before controlling for teacher characteristics. Female teachers reported earning about $7,000 (9 percent) less, on average, than male teachers.
  • Forty-six percent of teachers said that they were better off financially than their parents, compared with 61 percent of similar working adults.

Topics

Document Details

  • Copyright: National Education Association
  • Publisher: RAND Corporation
  • Availability: Web-Only
  • Year: 2025
  • Pages: 41
  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.7249/RRA1108-16
  • Document Number: RR-A1108-16

Citation

Chicago Manual of Style

Steiner, Elizabeth D., Phoebe Rose Levine, Sy Doan, and Ashley Woo, Teacher Well-Being, Pay, and Intentions to Leave in 2025: Findings from the State of the American Teacher Survey. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 2025. https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RRA1108-16.html.
BibTeX RIS

This report is based on research funded by the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers and was conducted within RAND Education and Labor.

This publication is part of the RAND research report series. Research reports present research findings and objective analysis that address the challenges facing the public and private sectors. All RAND research reports undergo rigorous peer review to ensure high standards for research quality and objectivity.

RAND is a nonprofit institution that helps improve policy and decisionmaking through research and analysis. RAND's publications do not necessarily reflect the opinions of its research clients and sponsors.