Teacher Salary in Houston, TX 2026,
$64,500 Median | BLS + Market Data

Houston teachers earn a BLS MSA median of $64,500/yr for the Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands metro, with the published range running from $46,390 at the 10th percentile to $74,430 at the 90th. That median is about 2.8% above the Texas statewide figure. Because Texas pay follows district salary schedules, most of that spread reflects years of service credit rather than campus or subject.

Yes, but by less than most people expect: the Houston metro median is 2.8% above the Texas statewide median. Suburban districts around the metro fund larger local supplements than most rural Texas districts can, and the metro's shortage-area stipends add on top, but the state minimum schedule anchors every Texas district, so the metro premium stays in low single digits.

Shortage-area assignments do. Bilingual, special education and secondary STEM certifications carry district stipends that stack on the base schedule, which is how experienced Houston teachers reach the $67,370 P75 and above. Suburban districts with the largest local supplements sit at the top of the published band, near $74,430.

Certification is issued statewide by the Texas Education Agency on behalf of the State Board for Educator Certification, not by the city or the district. You complete an approved preparation programme, pass the required TExES content and pedagogy exams, and clear fingerprinting; the certificate is then valid in any Texas district, so a Houston certificate moves with you across the state.

Texas levies no state income tax, so a Houston teacher's deductions are federal income tax, Social Security or the Teacher Retirement System contribution, and Medicare. On the $64,500 metro median that leaves noticeably more in hand than the same published salary in a state with an income tax, which is the main reason Houston competes for teachers despite a modest metro premium.

Texas sets a state minimum salary schedule and funds districts through a formula, so the floor is the same across the state and metro districts differentiate only through locally funded supplements. Houston's cost of living is moderate by big-metro standards, which reduces the pressure to fund large supplements, and the result is a metro median only 2.8% above the statewide figure despite Houston employing the largest teacher workforce in Texas.

The BLS wage row covers elementary school teachers as a category, so it is broader than any single job title and excludes special-education teachers, who BLS reports separately. It also reports base wages only: extracurricular stipends, summer-school pay and coaching supplements are real Houston income that never appears in the published median.

In Texas, the single largest determinant of a teacher's pay is verified years of service credit, which a district must honour on hire. That is why the Houston band is comparatively narrow between the P25 and P75 and then widens at the top: a teacher gains most of their lifetime raise through the schedule's step increases, plus an advanced-degree lane and shortage-area stipends, rather than through changing campuses.