Since Senate Bill 727 set a $40,000 statutory minimum, starting pay is now nearly uniform across Missouri — so the career ceiling, not the first-year offer, is where districts really differ. These four maps trace pay across a teaching career, and the state grant that props up the floor. Salaries come from the MNEA 2025-26 salary survey.
What this page shows
274 of 518 districts — more than half the state — rely on the Teacher Baseline Salary Grant to reach Missouri’s $40,000 starting-salary floor. That grant is an annual appropriation, not a guarantee.
Reliance on it maps who has nothing to tax: 67% of rural districts use the grant, against 2% of suburbs and none of the districts above 10,000 students.
The floor has been leveled; the ceiling has not. Starting pay is now near-identical statewide, but the gap between districts widens with every year of experience.
Data current as ofMNEA & MSTA salary schedules 2025–26DESE teacher data 2025Baseline Salary Grant 2025–26
CAREER-CEILING PAY
The highest salary each district publishes
With the starting floor set by law, the top of the schedule is where districts compete. The suburban rings of Kansas City and St. Louis stand out darkly against a lighter rural interior.
Each district’s highest published salary, 2025-26 (MNEA salary survey).
64%
of districts (331 of 518) start teachers at exactly the $40,000 minimum
2025–26 · MNEA
$62,105
median district schedule maximum — career-ceiling pay (top: $128,071)
2025–26 · MNEA
53%
of districts use the state Baseline Salary Grant to reach the $40,000 floor
2025–26 · MNEA
MID-CAREER PAY
Master’s + 10 years — the SB 727 threshold
Master’s + 10 years is the mid-career mark SB 727 also raised, to $46,000. On this map, red marks districts paying below the statewide median at that step.
Salary at a Master’s degree + 10 years of experience, 2025-26 — statewide median $46,742 (red = below).
CAREER-END PAY
Top of the Master’s lane
The top of the Master’s lane is what a 20-plus-year career teacher can ultimately earn — the practical ceiling for most Missouri educators. Red again marks districts below the statewide median.
Top of the Master’s lane, 2025-26 — statewide median $58,200 (red = below).
THE BASELINE SALARY GRANT
Who needs state money to pay the state minimum
Because many districts can’t fund the new floor from local revenue, the state pays the difference through the Teacher Baseline Salary Grant — but it must be re-appropriated every year. Blue districts use the grant; yellow qualified but did not apply.
The map tells the story: blue blankets rural Missouri — 67% of rural districts (274 statewide) rely on the grant to reach $40,000, while the metros and their suburbs pay it on their own. Thirteen districts qualified for the grant but never applied, and still start below $40,000.
THE LONG VIEW
Teacher pay has fallen since 1991 — almost everywhere
Every map above shows pay in today’s dollars. This one asks a harder question: after accounting for inflation, is a Missouri teacher better off than a Missouri teacher was in 1991? For most of the state, the answer is no. Red districts pay their teachers less, in real purchasing power, than the same district paid in 1991.
Percent change in each district’s average teacher salary from 1991 to 2025, expressed in constant 2025 dollars (average salary from Missouri DESE District Faculty Information, deflated by CPI). Red = real pay is below its 1991 level; blue = above.
The map is overwhelmingly red: 419 of Missouri’s 516 districts — 81% — pay teachers less in real terms today than they did in 1991. The median district is down 7.6%. This is not a rural story or an urban story; it is a statewide one. The declines are actually steepest in the cities (median −15.6%) and suburbs (−10.9%), with towns at −8.3% and rural districts at −6.8%. The worst is Moniteau Co. R-V at −44%. Only 97 districts have gained ground since 1991, and only a handful — Shell Knob 78 at +24% is the state’s highest — by a meaningful margin.
This is the context in which SB 727’s $40,000 floor should be read. The floor lifted the bottom of the profession. It did not reverse thirty-four years of erosion in what the job pays.
QUESTIONS OR DATA SUGGESTIONS?
Contact Dr. Jon Turner
Associate Professor of Educational Leadership · Missouri State University, Springfield MO