Education

Oklahoma ranks high in teacher ‘opportunity and competition’

September 15, 2025

Ray Carter

Earlier this year, Oklahoma’s public-school system was ranked 50th nationally out of the 50 states and the District of Columbia, trailing only New Mexico.

But now the same entity that gave Oklahoma schools that low mark says Oklahoma is also the 14th-best nationally for teacher “opportunity and competition,” a category that considers whether states offer teachers competitive salaries and job security.

Personal finance site WalletHub’s new report, “Best & Worst States for Teachers,” compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia based on 24 key indicators of teacher-friendliness, which were broken into two broad categories.

The report ranked Oklahoma 27th-best overall for teachers when accounting for both teacher “opportunity and competition” and “academic and work environment.”

The teacher opportunity and competition category considered factors such as the average starting salary for teachers (adjusted for cost of living), the average salary for teachers (adjusted for cost of living), teachers’ income growth potential, the 10-year change in teacher salaries, the average teacher pension (adjusted for cost of living), the share of new teachers with inadequate pensions, the projected number of teachers per 1,000 students by year 2032, public-school enrollment growth, length of time before tenure kicks in, teacher tenure protections, and teacher preparation program completion.

Oklahoma ranked 14th in the teacher-opportunity category.

Oklahoma teachers have seen their salaries surge dramatically in recent years, although the boost in pay and school spending has not translated into improved academic outcomes.

The Oklahoma State School Boards Association (OSSBA), a lobbyist entity funded with schools’ taxpayer dollars, reports that the average teacher pay in Oklahoma surged 36 percent from $45,292 in the 2016-2017 school year to $61,686 by the 2024-2025 school year.

A report issued in April by the National Education Association (NEA), a teachers’ union, similarly showed that Oklahoma’s average teacher salary in 2023-2024 was $61,330.

Based on the raw dollar figure, the NEA ranked Oklahoma’s average teacher pay 34th highest among the 50 states, and the state’s national ranking surges even higher after accounting for cost-of-living differences.

Data provided by Oklahoma schools to the Oklahoma Cost Accounting System indicate that per-pupil revenue has increased by 51 percent since the 2017-2018 school year, when Oklahoma public schools reported having $6,300,400,107 in new revenue and statewide enrollment of 694,816 for an average of $9,067 per student.

New revenue in Oklahoma public schools reached $9,600,703,488 by the 2023-2024 school year, when student enrollment was 698,923, providing an average of $13,736 per pupil.

And the National Education Association found that Oklahoma had $14,066 in revenue receipts per student in the 2023-2024 school year based on average daily attendance.

Oklahoma’s ranking in WalletHub’s “Best & Worst States for Teachers” report placed the state above many others that spend far more per student.

For example, New Jersey ranked 25th in WalletHub’s teacher “opportunity and competition” category, despite the NEA reporting that New Jersey schools had $30,924 in revenue per student, more than double the amount of revenue in Oklahoma schools.

Massachusetts ranked 28th in the teacher opportunity category, despite having $28,362 in revenue per student. Connecticut ranked 31st despite having $28,835 in per-student revenue.  Vermont ranked 40th in teacher opportunity, even as it had per-student revenue of $31,150.

In contrast, some states ranked by WalletHub as some of the best for teachers have far less revenue per student than most other states.

Utah ranked second best overall for teachers and first for teacher opportunity and competition, despite spending far less per pupil than nearly any other state in the country. The NEA found that Utah had per-student revenue of $13,860.

WalletHub ranked Arizona fifth best for teacher opportunity. The NEA found Arizona schools’ per-pupil revenue ranked in the bottom 10 states. Mississippi, whose per-pupil revenue also ranked in the bottom 10 states according to the NEA, was in the top 10 states for teacher opportunity in the WalletHub report. Mississippi has also generated academic outcomes that are among the nation’s best in core areas such as reading.