Best NJ School Districts To Teach In, Average Salaries: See New Data

NEW JERSEY — Public school teachers in New Jersey can make vastly different salaries, depending on which school district employs them. While money is far from the only factor that determines a good place to teach, it certainly matters.

Niche — a website known for its extensive rankings of schools, universities and communities — released rankings on the "best places to teach" in the United States and in New Jersey.

The platform's methodology incorporates several factors, including a school district's overall Niche grade, resources and facilities, and student-teacher ratio. But 30 percent of Niche's calculations include each district's average teacher salary and teacher salary index — the average teacher salary normalized by median household income by county.

The median public-school teacher salary in the state last year totaled $74,186, according to the New Jersey Department of Education. But Patch's data analysis found major disparities by type of school and by district. (The state's data included median salary, while Niche's evaluations use average-salary data from the U.S. Department of Education.)

• Read more: NJ Teacher Salaries: How Much Do Your District's Educators Earn?

As far as New Jersey's best places to teach, many of the districts atop Niche's list are in affluent communities and have an average educator salary of $75,000 or higher. And many placed high in Niche's rankings of New Jersey's top school districts.

Here are the districts that finished highest, along with their average teacher salaries:

1. Millburn Township School District, $87,061
2. Livingston Board of Education School District, $86,615
3. West Essex Regional School District, $83,593
4. North Valley Regional High School District, $91,517
5. Pansack Valley Regional High School District, $99,322
6. Princeton Public Schools, $89,076
7. Ridgewood Public School District, $89,201
8. Mountain Lakes School District, $95,062
9. West Windsor-Plainsboro Regional School District, $78,101
10. Hopewell Valley Regional School District, $84,083
11. Margate City School District, $91,722
12. Berkeley Heights Public School District, $84,875
13. Pompton Lakes School District, $85,604
14. Edison Township School District, $85,993
15. Moorestown Township Public School District, $77,983
16. Glen Ridge Public School District, $86,236
17. Summit Public School District, $77,646
18. South Brunswick School District, $80,048
19. Morris Hills Regional School District, $86,897
20. Tenafly Public School District, $87,898
21. Ocean City School District, $92,453
22. Old Bridge Township School District, $85,038
23. West Orange Public Schools, $90,003
24. Southern Regional School District, $84,385
25. Little Falls Township Public Schools, $69,877

Teacher salaries depend on numerous factors, such as district contracts, seniority and local cost of living. The New Jersey Education Association — the state's largest teacher's union — has pushed for a starting salary of at least $60,000 for educators in its "$60K The First Day" campaign.

"Compensation is a primary concern of all our members, especially during contract negotiations," wrote Peter Vela, associate director of the NJEA. "Let us not accept the stigma associated with teacher pay. The attitude established within our local associations and at the bargaining table when we declare that 'We are Worth It!' makes it clear to all involved: money matters."

New Jersey teachers had among the highest average starting salaries in the nation at $54,053 in the 2020-21 school year, according to the National Education Association. The profession's average starting salary around the nation that school year was $41,770. But the Garden State also consistently ranks among the nation's top states for education, while also sporting one of the highest costs of living in the U.S.

Additionally, teacher salaries nationwide reached their lowest inflation-adjusted levels since the Great Recession, according to the National Education Association.

Where does your school district rank? See Niche's full list of the best places to teach in New Jersey.