Top Metros for Secondary School Teachers in 2026: New York Leads as High‑Pay California and Washington Hubs Stand Out

Across the 10 top‑ranked metros for secondary school teachers in 2026, LaborCove’s data shows a cluster of relatively high median salaries paired with very different employment scales. New York‑Newark‑Jersey City ranks #1 with the largest employment count among these metros and a Geography Score of 78.51, standing apart from the rest of the top 10. Meanwhile, Mount Vernon‑Anacortes in Washington reaches the highest median salary in this group but appears with one of the smallest employment counts, underscoring how salary and scale can diverge. Several California and Washington metros also sit above the national median salary while differing meaningfully in employment levels and Geography Scores. Taken together, the data highlights that LaborCove’s metro rankings incorporate more than any single metric such as pay or job count.

At the national level, secondary school teachers in this occupation have a median annual salary of $72,040 in 2026. National employment stands at 1,065,210, indicating the size of the occupation across all geographies in the dataset. The national projected employment growth rate for this occupation is -1.6%. This figure reflects the expected change for secondary school teachers nationwide, not for any specific state or metro. Against this backdrop, the top 10 metros described below all sit within a broader landscape where LaborCove has data for 375 metro areas, and the largest reported metro employment count among those is 75,780.

New York‑Newark‑Jersey City, NY‑NJ holds the #1 spot in LaborCove’s metro rankings for secondary school teachers, with a Geography Score of 78.51. Its median salary is $100,800, which is higher than the national median of $72,040. New York‑Newark‑Jersey City has an employment count of 75,780 secondary school teachers in this occupation. This matches the largest employment market value supplied in the geographic data and is higher than the employment counts reported for the other top 10 metros. Within the top 10, New York‑Newark‑Jersey City combines its #1 ranking, a median salary above the national level, and the highest reported employment count in this group, setting it apart from the other metros in both score and scale.

Every metro in the top 10 has a median salary above the national median of $72,040. The lowest metro median in this group is Boston‑Cambridge‑Newton at $98,850, which is still higher than the national figure. Mount Vernon‑Anacortes, WA has the highest median salary in the top 10 at $121,190. This is higher than the median salaries in New York‑Newark‑Jersey City ($100,800), Los Angeles‑Long Beach‑Anaheim ($100,960), Chicago‑Naperville‑Elgin ($98,970), San Jose‑Sunnyvale‑Santa Clara ($108,230), San Francisco‑Oakland‑Fremont ($102,880), Boston‑Cambridge‑Newton ($98,850), Seattle‑Tacoma‑Bellevue ($102,670), San Diego‑Chula Vista‑Carlsbad ($102,810), and Sacramento‑Roseville‑Folsom ($105,060). San Jose‑Sunnyvale‑Santa Clara, CA reports a median salary of $108,230, which is higher than the median salaries in Los Angeles‑Long Beach‑Anaheim ($100,960) and Chicago‑Naperville‑Elgin ($98,970). Sacramento‑Roseville‑Folsom, at $105,060, also sits above Los Angeles‑Long Beach‑Anaheim and Chicago‑Naperville‑Elgin on median salary while ranking lower overall in the top 10 list.

Employment counts among the top 10 metros range from the tens of thousands down to a few hundred. New York‑Newark‑Jersey City’s employment of 75,780 is higher than that of Los Angeles‑Long Beach‑Anaheim (32,250) and Chicago‑Naperville‑Elgin (32,790). Chicago‑Naperville‑Elgin’s employment count of 32,790 is slightly higher than Los Angeles‑Long Beach‑Anaheim’s 32,250. Boston‑Cambridge‑Newton reports 20,600 employed secondary school teachers in this occupation, which is lower than both New York‑Newark‑Jersey City and Chicago‑Naperville‑Elgin. At the smaller end of the scale, Mount Vernon‑Anacortes has an employment count of 240, which is lower than the employment counts in all of the other top 10 metros, including San Jose‑Sunnyvale‑Santa Clara (4,130), San Francisco‑Oakland‑Fremont (11,520), Seattle‑Tacoma‑Bellevue (7,720), San Diego‑Chula Vista‑Carlsbad (6,690), and Sacramento‑Roseville‑Folsom (6,040).

LaborCove’s Geography Scores show that the highest salary does not automatically produce the highest overall ranking. Mount Vernon‑Anacortes, WA records the highest median salary in the top 10 at $121,190, yet it ranks #7 with a Geography Score of 51.53. By contrast, New York‑Newark‑Jersey City ranks #1 with a Geography Score of 78.51 and a median salary of $100,800, which is lower than Mount Vernon‑Anacortes’s median pay. Los Angeles‑Long Beach‑Anaheim, at #2, has a Geography Score of 58.10 and a median salary of $100,960, which is also lower than Mount Vernon‑Anacortes. Similarly, Chicago‑Naperville‑Elgin ranks #3 with a Geography Score of 55.29 and a median salary of $98,970, while San Jose‑Sunnyvale‑Santa Clara ranks #4 with a Geography Score of 54.19 and a higher median salary of $108,230. These patterns underscore that LaborCove’s metro rankings and Geography Scores reflect more than a simple ordering by pay level.

California metros are prominent in the top 10. Los Angeles‑Long Beach‑Anaheim ranks #2 with a median salary of $100,960 and an employment count of 32,250. San Jose‑Sunnyvale‑Santa Clara ranks #4 with a higher median salary of $108,230 and a smaller employment count of 4,130. San Francisco‑Oakland‑Fremont ranks #5 with a median salary of $102,880 and employment of 11,520, while San Diego‑Chula Vista‑Carlsbad ranks #9 with a median salary of $102,810 and employment of 6,690. Sacramento‑Roseville‑Folsom rounds out the top 10 at #10 with a median salary of $105,060 and employment of 6,040. In Washington, Mount Vernon‑Anacortes ranks #7 with a Geography Score of 51.53, a median salary of $121,190, and employment of 240, while Seattle‑Tacoma‑Bellevue ranks #8 with a Geography Score of 48.59, a median salary of $102,670, and employment of 7,720. Within this pairing, Mount Vernon‑Anacortes has a higher median salary and a higher Geography Score, while Seattle‑Tacoma‑Bellevue has a larger employment count.

LaborCove builds these rankings using authoritative labor‑market data and its own Geography Score methodology. For this article, we rely only on the supplied evidence: national salary, national employment, national projected employment change, and metro‑level median salaries, employment counts, rankings, and Geography Scores. Each metro’s LaborCove Geography Score reflects how that location compares within the broader dataset of 375 metros for this occupation. The exact formula and weighting are proprietary and not detailed in the supplied evidence, so this article does not infer why any single metric affects a metro’s score. Career decisions should weigh these rankings alongside individual priorities such as personal circumstances, preferences, and information sources beyond this dataset. LaborCove’s role here is to provide a structured, comparable snapshot of where this occupation stands nationally and in the top‑ranked metro areas.