New statewide report details educator salaries

GREENE COUNTY—Public school educators in Greene County earned a median salary of $82,464 during the 2025-26 school year, according to new payroll data released this week by the Empire Center for Public Policy.

The annual report, published on the Empire Center's SeeThroughNY website, found that more than one-third of public school educators outside New York City earned at least $100,000, while the number earning more than $200,000 increased 16 percent from the previous year.

The Albany-based, independent, nonpartisan nonprofit think tank analyzed payroll records submitted by school districts and BOCES to the New York State Teachers' Retirement System for the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2026.

Greene County's six school districts employed the equivalent of 734 full-time educators, with Windham-Ashland-Jewett reporting the highest average pay at $93,924, followed by Catskill at $86,879 and Greenville at $83,446.

Average salaries in the remaining districts were $81,502 in Coxsackie-Athens, $79,131 in Cairo-Durham and $76,756 in Hunter-Tannersville.

The figures include teachers, principals, superintendents and other administrators, rather than reflecting classroom teacher salaries alone.

Statewide, 82,791 educators earned at least $100,000, accounting for 34.6 percent of the nearly 240,000 employees included in the report. The number earning more than $200,000 rose to 2,328, while 114 received more than $300,000.

The average salary for full-time educators statewide increased approximately 2.2 percent to $99,652. Long Island had the highest regional average at $121,047, while the North Country had the lowest at $74,937.

In the eight-county Capital Region, which includes Greene County, full-time educators earned an average of $86,248. A total of 38 educators in the region earned more than $200,000.

Superintendents were among the highest-paid school employees statewide, with a median annual salary of $215,922. A total of 174 earned more than the governor's $250,000 salary.

Among Capital Region superintendents, Windham-Ashland-Jewett's John M. Wiktorko ranked in the top 10, with reported earnings of $244,296. The region's highest-paid superintendent was David Perry of South Colonie Central School District, who earned $300,918.

The figures reflect payroll records obtained by the Empire Center before several Greene County school districts entered into contracts with new superintendents this year.

The report also compared educator earnings with those of other workers. In Greene County, the median educator salary of $82,464 was approximately 33 percent higher than the $62,183 median earnings of full-time, year-round workers living in the county, based on Census Bureau estimates from 2020 through 2024.

The payroll figures reflect gross earnings, which may include additional payments for extra duties, summer school and other assignments. They do not include employee benefits or pension contributions.