Best States for Postsecondary Career/Technical Education Teachers in 2026

Across the top 10 states, LaborCove’s rankings show that the best locations for postsecondary career/technical education teachers do not align on a single metric. California holds the #1 rank with a Geography Score of 77.50, a median salary of $76,630, and an employment count of 11,040. Texas ranks #2 with the highest supplied employment count in the table at 12,620 and a median salary of $65,180, but a lower Geography Score of 66.45. Several higher-ranked states, including Massachusetts, Wisconsin, and South Carolina, report smaller employment counts than California and Texas while maintaining median salaries above the $63,820 national median. At the same time, Wisconsin’s median salary of $82,620 is the highest among the listed states, yet it ranks #6 with a Geography Score of 55.35, below California, Texas, New York, Washington, and Massachusetts. This pattern demonstrates that the LaborCove Geography Score and ranking do not simply track the highest salary or the largest employment count. Nationally, the occupation’s projected growth of 0.7% indicates slight expansion across the U.S. labor market for these teachers as a whole. Within that national backdrop, the top 10 states show diverse combinations of salary, employment scale, and Geography Scores rather than a single dominant profile.

California is LaborCove’s #1 state for postsecondary career/technical education teachers, with a Geography Score of 77.50. Its median salary of $76,630 is above the national median of $63,820, and its employment count of 11,040 is among the largest in the top‑10 group. Texas ranks #2 with a Geography Score of 66.45, which is lower than California’s score. Texas has a median salary of $65,180, which is higher than the national median but lower than California’s median salary. Texas reports an employment count of 12,620, which is larger than California’s employment count of 11,040 and is the largest employment figure supplied in the top‑10 table. This side‑by‑side view shows that California’s top ranking coincides with a higher Geography Score and higher median salary than Texas, while Texas leads California on the raw employment count within this set of states.

Several states in the top 10 combine high median salaries with mid‑range or lower Geography Scores in this group. Wisconsin has the highest median salary in the supplied top‑10 states at $82,620 and ranks #6 with a Geography Score of 55.35. Its employment count of 2,000 is smaller than the employment counts in California and Texas. Massachusetts, ranked #5, reports a median salary of $78,780, also above California’s $76,630 and well above the national median. Massachusetts has an employment count of 1,660, again smaller than the counts in California and Texas. South Carolina, ranked #7, shows a median salary of $79,610, which is higher than California’s median salary and higher than the national median. Its employment count is 1,980, which is smaller than the employment counts in California and Texas. These examples underline that high salaries alone do not correspond automatically to top Geography Scores in the LaborCove rankings.

Within the top 10, several states have median salaries that are close to one another but occupy different positions in the LaborCove ranking. Washington ranks #4 with a Geography Score of 58.01, a median salary of $77,530, and an employment count of 3,610. Its salary is higher than California’s median salary of $76,630 and higher than the national median. New York, ranked #3 with a Geography Score of 61.08, has a median salary of $75,170, which is lower than California’s median salary while still above the national median. New York’s employment count of 5,250 is smaller than the employment counts in California and Texas but larger than the counts in several lower‑ranked states. Minnesota, at rank #10, shows a median salary of $76,920, which is higher than California’s median salary and higher than the national median. Yet its Geography Score of 49.33 is lower than the scores in the other nine states in the table. Together, these data points indicate that similar salary levels can correspond to different Geography Scores and ranks in LaborCove’s model.

The LaborCove Geography Score offers a way to compare states beyond a single metric. In this top‑10 set, California’s score of 77.50 is the highest supplied, followed by Texas at 66.45 and New York at 61.08. Washington and Massachusetts post Geography Scores of 58.01 and 56.27, respectively, while Wisconsin, South Carolina, New Jersey, Alaska, and Minnesota range from 55.35 down to 49.33. Employment counts show a different ordering. Texas has the largest employment figure in the table at 12,620, followed by California at 11,040. New York’s employment count of 5,250 is smaller than the counts in both Texas and California but larger than the employment figures for Washington, Massachusetts, Wisconsin, South Carolina, New Jersey, Alaska, and Minnesota. Several higher‑ranked states in the top five, including Washington and Massachusetts, have smaller employment counts than New York. These contrasts highlight that the Geography Score and rank can differ considerably from the ordering implied by employment counts alone.

For 2026, postsecondary career/technical education teachers have a national median salary of $63,820 and total employment of 114,110. The national projected employment growth rate of 0.7% reflects modest expected expansion for this occupation across the United States as a whole. Every state in the supplied top‑10 list reports a median salary above the national median. Texas, with the lowest median salary in this set at $65,180, still exceeds the national median. States such as Wisconsin ($82,620), South Carolina ($79,610), and Massachusetts ($78,780) are notably above the national figure. Because this article focuses on a top‑10 subset of 50 available geographies, it emphasizes where the LaborCove model sees relatively strong combinations of salary, employment counts, and Geography Scores within the national context. Users comparing states should weigh how much they value being above the national median pay versus state‑to‑state differences in Geography Scores and employment counts.

LaborCove builds its state rankings for postsecondary career/technical education teachers from authoritative labor‑market data and the LaborCove Geography Score. For this article, we use the supplied national figures for the occupation’s median annual salary, total employment, and projected national employment growth as overall context. State comparisons rely on four metrics: LaborCove rank, LaborCove Geography Score, state‑level median salary, and state‑level employment counts. The Geography Score is a composite measure produced by LaborCove to summarize how each geography performs across the underlying factors in the scoring model. The exact weight of each factor is not disclosed in this evidence, so this article treats the Geography Score and its resulting rank as summary indicators rather than attempting to reverse‑engineer the formula. Readers should view these rankings as structured guidance rather than one‑size‑fits‑all answers. Individual decisions may prioritize salary, employment counts, or the Geography Score differently, and those preferences can change which state feels most attractive, even within the same top‑10 list.