Teacher Salary in Dallas, TX 2026,
$65,070 Median | BLS + Market Data

Dallas teachers earn a BLS median of $65,070/yr, published for the combined Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington metro, with a range of $56,390 to $76,340. That is 3.7% above the Texas statewide median. Metroplex districts fund larger local supplements than most of the state, and several operate incentive systems that pay well above the standard schedule.

Yes — the Dallas metro figure is 3.7% above the Texas statewide median, the widest gap of any large Texas metro and about a percentage point ahead of Houston. Suburban supplements and district incentive systems do most of that work; the underlying state minimum schedule is identical across Texas.

Because BLS publishes one wage estimate for the combined Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington metropolitan area and does not break out metropolitan divisions for it. The $65,070 median is the true published figure for both cities. What differs between them is the district mix, the local supplement levels and the employer base, not the BLS number.

Teacher-designation and campus-incentive systems. Districts that participate pay designated teachers a substantial annual supplement for working at high-needs campuses, which is the main route from the $65,070 median toward the $76,340 top of the published band without leaving the classroom.

A standard Texas classroom certificate from the Texas Education Agency, issued on behalf of the State Board for Educator Certification. Certification is statewide, so there is no Dallas-specific licence; you complete an approved preparation programme, pass the TExES exams for your content area and clear fingerprinting.

The Dallas-Fort Worth area has the deepest concentration of large, well-funded suburban districts in the state, and those districts compete with each other for the same candidates. Because the Texas minimum schedule sets the floor rather than the ceiling, that competition shows up entirely in locally funded supplements — which is how a metro median lands 3.7% above the statewide figure.

This is a combined Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington metro estimate covering elementary school teachers as a category, so it is broader than one job title and it blends districts with very different supplement levels. It is also base pay only: coaching, extracurricular and summer-school stipends are real metroplex income that the published median excludes.

Texas allows districts to designate teachers as recognised, exemplary or master based on evaluation and student-growth measures, and to pay a state-funded allotment for those designations, weighted toward high-needs campuses. In the metroplex this is the fastest legitimate route above the schedule, and it is the mechanism most responsible for the distance between the median and the P90.