A teacher can spend an entire day managing a classroom, explaining difficult concepts, helping struggling students, answering parents’ questions and preparing lessons for the next morning. By the time the school day ends, there may still be grading, paperwork and planning waiting for them.
A software engineer’s day can look completely different. They might spend hours solving a technical problem, reviewing code, fixing bugs or working on a product that could eventually serve thousands or even millions of users.
Both careers require expertise, but the way that expertise is rewarded is very different.
In the United States, the average public school teacher earned about $74,495 during the 2024–25 school year, according to the National Education Association (NEA). The average starting teacher salary was just $48,112. Software developers, meanwhile, had a median annual wage of $133,080 in May 2024, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
The difference is hard to overlook. It has also fueled a much wider discussion about teacher pay, the value of education and whether society has got its priorities right.
But comparing a teacher’s salary with a software engineer’s salary is not as simple as putting two numbers side by side. The two professions operate in different labor markets, have different funding structures and create value in very different ways.
That is where the debate gets interesting.
Why Software Developers Earn So Much
Technology has become part of almost every industry, and that has created a strong market for people who know how to build and maintain software.
Banks need developers to create secure financial systems. Hospitals depend on software for records and operations. Retail companies use technology to manage everything from inventory to payments. Businesses are also investing heavily in artificial intelligence, cloud computing, cybersecurity and data systems.
The people who can design and maintain these systems are therefore valuable to employers, particularly when they have experience in specialized areas.
The employment numbers reflect that demand. The BLS projects 15% growth in employment for software developers, quality assurance analysts and testers between 2024 and 2034, much faster than the average growth expected across all occupations. The agency also projects roughly 129,200 openings each year across these roles.
Salary is also affected by how the private technology sector works. A company that urgently needs a developer with a particular skill set can make a higher offer to attract them. Stock options, bonuses and other benefits can add considerably to the overall compensation package.
Teachers generally do not have that kind of individual bargaining power.
A public school teacher’s salary is more often linked to a predetermined salary schedule. State funding, district budgets, experience and collective bargaining can all influence what a teacher earns. Even if a teacher becomes exceptionally good at their job, there may be limits on how quickly their salary can increase.
So the difference between the two salaries is not necessarily a measure of how much society values one profession over the other. It is also a reflection of how each profession is funded and how employers compete for talent.
Teacher Pay Has a Problem of Its Own
The national average of $74,495 does not tell the whole story.
Teacher salaries vary widely across states and school districts, and teachers at the beginning of their careers can be earning considerably less than the national average. According to the NEA, the average starting salary for teachers reached $48,112 in 2024–25.
Even the growth in teacher salaries needs some context.
The average public school teacher salary increased from $71,985 in 2023–24 to $74,495 in 2024–25, a 3.5% increase. After accounting for inflation, however, the NEA reports that average teacher pay is still around 5% lower than it was a decade ago.
That makes the discussion about teacher compensation more complicated than simply asking whether salaries are going up.
The cost of housing, food, transportation and other everyday expenses has increased too. A pay raise on paper does not necessarily translate into more financial breathing room for someone whose living costs have risen at the same time.
Teachers also enter the profession after investing in their own education. In most cases, becoming a teacher requires a bachelor’s degree, along with certification and other requirements that vary by state. Once they begin working, the professional demands continue through training, lesson preparation, assessment and other responsibilities.
The salary needs to be considered alongside all of that.
Teaching Creates Value That Is Difficult to Measure
There is a reason teacher pay has become such a difficult subject to discuss.
The value created by many jobs can be connected relatively quickly to money. A software developer might create a product that generates revenue, reduces costs or helps a company serve more customers. Those results can be measured.
A teacher’s influence usually takes longer to appear.
A student might struggle with reading at age eight and become a confident reader two years later. A teenager might decide to apply to college because a teacher encouraged them to believe they could succeed. Another student might discover an interest in science, mathematics or writing because a particular teacher made the subject feel accessible.
There is no invoice attached to any of those moments.
Research does, however, give us some idea of how significant teacher effectiveness can be. A major National Bureau of Economic Research study involving millions of students found that students assigned to more effective teachers were more likely to attend college and had higher earnings later in life.
Other research has looked at outcomes that are not captured by standard test scores. Researchers found that teachers can influence attendance, grades, suspensions and whether students progress through school on time.
That research does not suggest that teachers should be paid according to the future income of their students. Education is far too complicated for such a system.
It does show, however, that the work happening inside a classroom can have consequences that last well beyond the school year.
The Workload Has Changed Too
Teaching today involves much more than preparing a lesson and standing in front of a class.
Teachers are expected to work with educational technology, communicate with parents, support students with different learning needs, document progress and respond to a wide range of classroom and administrative demands. In some schools, they are also expected to take on responsibilities that once belonged to other support staff.
The pressure has contributed to concerns about burnout.
RAND’s 2025 State of the American Teacher research found that 53% of teachers reported experiencing burnout, down from 60% in 2024. The percentage who said they intended to leave their jobs also fell, from 22% to 16%.
The improvement is encouraging, but more than half of the teachers surveyed still reported burnout.
That makes it difficult to talk about teacher retention without talking about working conditions as well as salaries. A higher paycheck can make a job more attractive, but it cannot completely compensate for an unmanageable workload, poor leadership or a lack of professional support.
If schools want experienced teachers to stay, they need to look at the whole career rather than just the salary scale.
Software Engineering Is Not an Easy Ride Either
It would be unfair to turn this discussion into an argument that software engineers are somehow overpaid.
Their salaries reflect real demand for technical expertise. Software development requires problem-solving skills, technical training and the ability to work with systems that can be extremely complicated. The field also changes quickly, which means professionals often have to keep learning long after they have entered the workforce.
A developer who specializes in a particular programming language or technology may find that the market has shifted a few years later. Artificial intelligence is already changing how many software teams work, creating new opportunities while also changing the skills employers are looking for.
There is also significant responsibility attached to some software roles. A mistake in a financial platform, healthcare system or security application can have serious consequences.
High salaries, therefore, are not necessarily evidence that software engineers are being rewarded unfairly.
The more useful discussion is whether teachers are being rewarded fairly in their own profession.
Market Value and Social Value Are Not the Same Thing
This is where salary comparisons can become misleading.
A profession’s market value is influenced by what employers are willing to pay for a particular skill. Social value is much broader.
A company may be willing to pay a software engineer more because that person’s work can contribute directly to the company’s products and revenue. That tells us something about the technology market.
Education on the other hand produces outcomes that are often spread across families, communities and generations. The person who benefits from a teacher’s work may not be the person who eventually creates the economic value associated with that education.
Consider a student who becomes a software engineer. The employer pays the engineer for the work they do. The economic value created by that engineer can be measured in salaries, products and revenue.
The teacher who helped that student build the skills needed to reach that point is much harder to account for.
This is one reason discussions about teacher compensation should not rely entirely on comparisons with other professions.
Would Higher Teacher Salaries Solve the Problem?
Higher salaries would certainly make a difference, particularly when someone is deciding whether to enter teaching in the first place.
But pay is only one part of the retention problem.
A teacher may leave because the workload has become too heavy. Another may feel there is little room for career growth. Someone else may want to take on more responsibility but discover that the only obvious way to advance is to leave classroom teaching altogether.
That last point deserves more attention.
Teaching does not have to be the end of a person’s professional development. An experienced educator can build a career that moves into curriculum development, instructional leadership, academic administration, school management or education consulting.
The classroom experience they have gained can actually become an advantage in those roles.
What Can Teachers Do to Move Into Leadership?
Some educators are happy staying in the classroom throughout their careers. Others eventually want to influence decisions beyond their own students.
For the second group, educational leadership can provide a natural next step.
Leadership positions require a different set of skills from classroom teaching. School administrators may have to manage budgets, develop policies, supervise staff, evaluate instructional programs and make decisions that affect an entire school or district.
An experienced teacher already understands many of the practical realities that leaders have to consider. An advanced degree can help build the management and research skills needed to take on that broader responsibility.
An Ed.D. in Educational Leadership is one option for educators interested in this path.
Acacia University’s Doctor of Education in Educational Leadership is a 60-credit online program covering areas such as school management, education finance, education law and instructional supervision.
For working educators, an online program can also make it possible to continue building professional experience while pursuing an advanced degree.
So, Should Teachers Get Paid More Than Software Engineers?
There is no useful universal rule that says one profession should always earn more than another.
A senior software engineer with highly specialized skills may command a high salary because several companies are competing for that expertise. A teacher with years of experience may have an enormous influence on students but work within a salary system that gives them relatively little room to negotiate.
Those are different situations.
The more important question is whether teacher compensation reflects the qualifications, workload and responsibility involved in the profession.
The answer will vary depending on where the teacher works and what stage of their career they are in. A teacher in one state may have a very different financial situation from a teacher in another. The same is true for software professionals working in different cities, industries and levels of seniority.
Still, the national figures tell us something worth discussing. The average starting teacher salary of $48,112 is a difficult number to ignore when compared with the earning potential available in other professions that also require a college education.
If talented graduates repeatedly look at the numbers and decide that other careers offer better financial stability, education can eventually lose some of the people it most needs.
That is not an argument against high software salaries.
It is an argument for making teaching financially and professionally sustainable.
A Better Way to Think About Teacher Pay
The conversation would be more productive if it moved away from asking whether teachers should “beat” software engineers in terms of salary.
Teachers do not need to earn more than software engineers to deserve better compensation.
What they need is a career structure that recognizes experience, rewards professional growth and gives educators realistic opportunities to take on greater responsibility without having to abandon education.
Salary is obviously part of that equation. So are manageable workloads, supportive school leadership, professional autonomy and clear routes into advanced roles.
An educator who wants to remain in the classroom should be able to build a stable career there. Someone who wants to move into leadership should have a pathway to do that. Someone who wants to specialize in curriculum, policy or educational research should have options as well.
That approach recognizes that teachers are professionals rather than treating teaching as a job people simply move through before finding something better.
The Debate Is Really About What We Choose to Reward
The comparison between teachers and software engineers will probably continue because it highlights a much larger tension in the modern workforce.
We have become very good at measuring some kinds of value.
Revenue is easy to count. Productivity can be calculated. Software sales can be tracked. The financial contribution of a technical employee can often be estimated.
Education is different.
A teacher’s contribution may appear in a student’s grades today, their college application several years later or their career decades down the road. Sometimes the impact may be as simple as giving a child the confidence to keep trying when they are ready to give up.
That makes the work harder to measure, not less important.
Software engineers should be paid well for specialized technical skills. Teachers should also be paid well enough that talented people can enter the profession, build a career and stay in it without constantly wondering whether they would be better off somewhere else.
The question is not really which profession deserves the bigger paycheck.
It is whether the way we pay people reflects the work we expect them to do and when it comes to teachers, there is a reasonable argument that the answer still needs some work.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do teachers earn less than software engineers?
In the United States, teachers generally earn less than software developers. The NEA reported an average public school teacher salary of $74,495 in 2024–25, while the BLS reported a median annual wage of $133,080 for software developers in May 2024. The figures use different measures, so they should be viewed as a broad comparison rather than an exact salary match.
Why do software engineers make more money than teachers?
Software professionals work in a private-sector market where companies often compete for specialized technical skills. Teacher salaries are more closely connected to school district budgets, state funding, salary schedules and collective bargaining arrangements. Those different systems have a major effect on compensation.
What is the average teacher salary in the U.S.?
The NEA reports an average public school teacher salary of approximately $74,495 for the 2024–25 school year. The average starting salary was approximately $48,112.
What is the median salary for a software developer in the U.S.?
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported a median annual wage of $133,080 for software developers in May 2024. The BLS uses “software developer” as the official occupational category in this data.
Are teacher salaries keeping up with inflation?
Not completely. The NEA reports that average teacher pay, after adjusting for inflation, was about 5% lower in 2024–25 than it was a decade earlier.
Why are teachers leaving the profession?
Pay is one consideration, but it is not the only one. Workload, school leadership, classroom conditions, burnout and limited career progression can also influence teachers’ decisions to leave.
Does teacher quality affect students’ future?
Research suggests that effective teaching can influence outcomes beyond the classroom. NBER research has linked teacher effectiveness with college attendance and students’ earnings later in life, while other studies have found effects on attendance, grades and school progression.
Should teachers be paid more than software engineers?
There is no universal salary rule that would make sense for both professions. A better approach is to consider whether teachers are being compensated fairly for their qualifications, workload, responsibilities and experience. Salary comparisons can highlight differences, but they do not measure the full value of either profession.
Can teachers move into educational leadership?
Yes. Experienced teachers can pursue roles such as instructional coordinator, department head, curriculum leader, academic administrator, school leader or education consultant. Requirements vary depending on the role, employer and location.
Is an Ed.D. useful for teachers?
An Ed.D. can be valuable for educators who want to develop their expertise in educational leadership, administration, policy or organizational decision-making. Acacia University’s Ed.D. in Educational Leadership is a 60-credit program that includes subjects such as school management, education finance, education law and instructional supervision.
Can teachers earn an Ed.D. while continuing to work?
Online doctoral programs can allow working educators to continue their careers while completing their studies. Acacia University offers its Ed.D. in Educational Leadership online.
What can you do with an Ed.D. in Educational Leadership?
An Ed.D. can support career paths in educational administration, school leadership, instructional leadership, curriculum development and other senior education roles. The specific opportunities available will depend on an educator’s experience, qualifications and local requirements.
Is teaching still a good career in 2026?
Yes. Teaching remains an important career for people who enjoy education and working with students, although compensation, workload and working conditions are genuine concerns.
Final Thoughts
The teacher-versus-software-engineer comparison makes for a good headline because the salary gap is so obvious. The harder part is deciding what that gap actually tells us.
It certainly tells us that the technology sector has a strong appetite for specialized skills. It also tells us that public education operates under a very different compensation model.
What it cannot tell us is how much a teacher’s work is worth to the students sitting in that classroom.
That is something salary statistics will always struggle to capture.
A fairer education system would not necessarily need to make every teacher a higher earner than every software engineer. It would need to make teaching a profession where people are properly compensated, experienced educators have room to progress and talented graduates do not have to rule out teaching simply because they cannot see a financially sustainable future in it.
That is a much more practical goal than winning a salary comparison.
