Special Education Teachers, Secondary School · SOC 25-2058

Highest-Paying Metro Areas for Special Education Teachers, Secondary Schools

Source: BLS OEWS, May 2025U.S. metropolitan areas

Metro areas ranked by published median annual wage for special education teachers, secondary school. Areas where BLS suppressed the median are not ranked (1 such areas are excluded here). Higher medians often track higher living costs — this is a pay comparison, not a ranking of where the job is “best”.

Top 25 of 314 metro areas

Special Education Teachers, Secondary School: metro areas with the highest published median annual wages, May 2025
#	Metro area	Median annual	Employment	Per 1,000 jobs
1	San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA	$117,640	400	0.4
2	San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA	$115,160	1,220	0.8
3	San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA	$105,160	1,260	0.5
4	Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA	$104,090	290	0.9
5	Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA	$103,730	1,630	0.9
6	Mount Vernon-Anacortes, WA	$103,420	60	1.1
7	Bremerton-Silverdale-Port Orchard, WA	$102,890	80	0.9
8	Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA	$102,290	1,270	0.6
9	Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD	$101,700	760	0.6
10	Olympia-Lacey-Tumwater, WA	$101,060	90	0.7
11	Santa Cruz-Watsonville, CA	$101,060	70	0.7
12	Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA	$100,900	3,920	0.6
13	Santa Rosa-Petaluma, CA	$100,880	150	0.7
14	Salinas, CA	$100,450	150	0.8
15	New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ	$100,430	14,700	1.5
16	Vallejo, CA	$99,930	110	0.8
17	Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA	$99,900	700	0.6
18	Fresno, CA	$98,860	490	1.0
19	Gettysburg, PA	$98,860	100	3.3
20	Modesto, CA	$98,170	220	1.1
21	Merced, CA	$98,040	120	1.5
22	Spokane-Spokane Valley, WA	$97,540	220	0.9
23	Stockton-Lodi, CA	$97,310	230	0.8
24	El Centro, CA	$97,000	90	1.4
25	Bellingham, WA	$96,940	70	0.8

Full state and metro tables, the national distribution, and the pay map are on the Special Education Teachers, Secondary School overview.

About this data. Estimates are from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics program, May 2025 release, retrieved from bls.gov/oes/tables.htm on July 24, 2026. OEWS estimates describe metropolitan/nonmetropolitan areas and states — not city limits — and are not designed for year-over-year comparisons. See BLS methodology, our plain-English methodology, and sources. CitySalaryData is independent and not affiliated with BLS.