Private & Charter School Industry Statistics 2026
How many private and charter schools and teachers there are, how many school openings are live right now, and what federal data say about teacher, assistant and administrator pay.
BLS has no private or charter school teacher code, so every federal pay figure below says which schools it covers: all schools together, or privately owned schools only.
Live Private and Charter School Openings
These numbers are SchoolHires’s own: every active listing on the board, from school and network career sites and direct postings.
Every other figure on this page comes from a federal agency or the named association.
| Role | Listings with hourly pay | Median posted low | Median posted high |
|---|---|---|---|
| Teaching Assistants | 199 | $18.00/hr | $20.00/hr |
| Substitute Teachers | 71 | $19.00/hr | $24.00/hr |
| Coaches | 29 | $19.00/hr | $22.00/hr |
| School Administrative Assistants | 26 | $19.50/hr | $22.50/hr |
| Montessori Teachers | 20 | $16.50/hr | $17.00/hr |
| Learning Specialists | 17 | $20.00/hr | $25.00/hr |
Roles with at least 15 hourly-pay listings are shown; each column is the median of the posted range’s low or high end.
Most teaching jobs post an annual salary instead, so this table mainly covers assistants, substitutes, coaches and office staff; posted ranges are what schools advertise, not what staff earn, and they do not compare directly with the BLS wages below.
How to read these numbers.
This is a live sample of the openings SchoolHires tracks, not a count of every private or charter school job in the country.
Roles follow our job categories, not BLS occupations, and listings we cannot place in a state count only in the total.
If you cite them, include the date shown and link to this page.
How Many Private and Charter Schools Are There?
NCES counts private schools and their teachers in its Private School Universe Survey, and charter schools in its public school data.
The latest private school count is for 2021–22 and the latest teacher survey for 2020–21, because NCES had published nothing newer as of October 2026.
The charter school association and NCEA publish their own counts, quoted here under their names and never added to the NCES figures.
| Indicator | Figure | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Private schools | ||
| Private K–12 schools, 2021–22Enrolling 4,731,303 students; NCES has published no newer count | 29,727 | NCES PSS 2021–22 |
| Full-time-equivalent private school teachers, 2021–22Private schools only | 482,571 | NCES PSS 2021–22 |
| Private school teachers by headcount, 2021–2280.8% of them worked full time | 526,416 | NCES PSS 2021–22 |
| Private schools with a religious orientation, 2021–2219,628 schools, employing 68.1% of private FTE teachers; 10,099 schools were nonsectarian | 66.0% | NCES PSS 2021–22 |
| Roman Catholic schools, 2021–22134,859 FTE teachers, 27.9% of all private school teachers | 6,122 | NCES PSS 2021–22 |
| Private schools with a Montessori program emphasis, 2021–2217,643 FTE teachers and 98,388 K–12 students | 2,441 | NCES PSS 2021–22 |
| Private schools with a special education emphasis, 2021–2225,507 FTE teachers and 131,379 students | 2,011 | NCES PSS 2021–22 |
| Private schools with fewer than 50 students, 2021–2211,878 schools; 84.9% of private schools enrolled fewer than 300 students | 40.0% | NCES PSS 2021–22 |
| Private school pupil/teacher ratio, 2021–2212.3 in Catholic, 10.1 in other religious and 7.2 in nonsectarian schools; a staffing ratio, not class size | 9.8 | NCES PSS 2021–22 |
| Instructional staff in Catholic schools, 2022–23Compiled from NCEA data; Catholic schools fell from 6,183 to 5,920 between 2019–20 and 2022–23 | 147,849 | NCES Digest Table 205.70 |
| Catholic school teacher retention, 2025–26As reported by NCEA, in a year when 13 Catholic schools opened and 62 closed or consolidated | 88% | NCEA 2025–26 infographic |
| Charter schools | ||
| Public charter schools, 2022–23Up from 6,079 in 2012–13 | 7,998 | NCES Digest Table 216.10 |
| Public charter school students, fall 2022About 7.6% of all public school students | 3,718,000 | NCES Digest Table 216.30 |
| Public charter school teachers, 2020–21Headcount; about 3,513,000 taught in traditional public schools | About 251,000 | NCES NTPS 2020–21, Digest Table 209.21 |
| Charter school teachers holding a regular state certificate, 2020–2111.5% held no certification, against 1.3% of traditional public school teachers | 75.3% | NCES NTPS 2020–21, Digest Table 209.21 |
| Charter schools and campuses, 2023–24Serving 3.9 million students; NAPCS counts campuses separately, so its total runs above the NCES count | 8,140 | NAPCS Data Digest 2025 |
| States with a charter school law, September 2025Charter schools operated in 45 states; Nebraska, South Dakota and Vermont have no charter law | 47 + DC | NAPCS |
| Charter schools run by a nonprofit management organization, 2023–2456.4% were freestanding and 12.3% were run by for-profit management organizations | 31.3% | NAPCS Data Digest 2025 |
| Charter management organizations operating, 2023–24Plus 50 for-profit education management organizations; 61.6% of CMOs run five or fewer schools | 301 | NAPCS Data Digest 2025 |
NCES private school figures exclude prekindergarten-only students; NCEA counts include prekindergarten and come from diocesan reports. NAPCS counts charter campuses separately, so its total is higher than the NCES school count.
NCES PSS 2021–22, full-time-equivalent teachers in private K–12 schools. Shares are calculated from the 482,571 total.
NCES National Teacher and Principal Survey 2020–21, regular full-time teachers, school-year base salary. NCES had published no newer salary figures as of October 2026, and these averages do not compare directly with the BLS medians below.
Sources: NCES PSS 2021–22, NCES NTPS 2020–21, NCES Digest of Education Statistics, NAPCS Data Digest 2025, NCEA
How Big Is the K–12 School Workforce?
BLS counts teachers by grade level and special education teachers, assistants, substitutes, administrators and counselors in occupations of their own, but not by type of school.
The first column covers every elementary and secondary school, district, charter and private together, and the second covers privately owned schools only.
Payroll counts leave out self-employed workers, while projection counts include them and cover every industry, and the two come from separate BLS programs.
| BLS occupation | Payroll jobs in K–12 schools, all ownerships, May 2025 | Of which in privately owned schools | Employment 2025, all industries | Projected 2035 | Browse |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Classroom teachers | |||||
| Kindergarten Teachers, Except Special Education SOC 25-2012Kindergarten teachers in public and private schools together. | 106,960 | 14,150 | 111,200 | 110,900 | – |
| Elementary School Teachers, Except Special Education SOC 25-2021The closest BLS occupation for private, charter, Catholic and other faith-based teachers, none of whom has a code of their own. | 1,381,960 | 159,700 | 1,419,300 | 1,413,400 | Private school teacher openings |
| Middle School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education SOC 25-2022Middle school teachers in public and private schools together. | 618,660 | 70,310 | 630,100 | 627,400 | – |
| Secondary School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education SOC 25-2031High school teachers in public and private schools together, the closest code for boarding and online school teachers. | 1,055,050 | 148,490 | 1,087,500 | 1,085,000 | Boarding school teacher openings |
| Special education teachers | |||||
| Special Education Teachers, Kindergarten and Elementary School SOC 25-2052BLS splits special education teachers by grade level; this is the K–5 code. | 258,680 | 11,830 | 259,100 | 258,100 | Special education teacher openings |
| Special Education Teachers, Middle School SOC 25-2057Middle school special education teachers, public and private schools together. | 94,900 | 5,560 | 94,800 | 94,400 | – |
| Special Education Teachers, Secondary School SOC 25-2058High school special education teachers, public and private schools together. | 158,870 | 14,030 | 164,800 | 164,500 | – |
| Classroom support, leadership and student services | |||||
| Teaching Assistants, Except Postsecondary SOC 25-9045The exact BLS occupation for teaching assistants, counted across all school ownerships. | 1,185,500 | 103,670 | 1,463,000 | 1,458,000 | Teaching assistant openings |
| Substitute Teachers, Short-Term SOC 25-3031The exact BLS occupation for short-term substitutes, counted across all school ownerships. | 407,590 | 33,290 | 556,100 | 567,000 | Substitute teacher openings |
| Education Administrators, Kindergarten through Secondary SOC 11-9032One occupation for heads of school, principals, assistant principals and deans together, so it is not head-of-school pay. | 322,020 | 59,710 | 343,800 | 342,700 | Head of school openings |
| Educational, Guidance, and Career Counselors and Advisors SOC 21-1012School and college counselors together; the projections row also counts college advisors. | 173,950 | 21,600 | 389,500 | 400,900 | School counselor openings |
Payroll jobs are BLS OEWS May 2025 estimates for Elementary and Secondary Schools (NAICS 611100), which combine public and private ownership; the privately owned column is the national BLS series for privately owned elementary and secondary schools (industry 611105). Employment 2025 and 2035 are BLS Employment Projections figures for the whole occupation in every industry, including the self-employed. BLS publishes no charter school series.
Roles BLS does not count on their own
- Private and charter school teachers. BLS has no private school or charter school teacher occupation; the teacher rows above count every school ownership together, and only the privately owned schools series isolates private schools. Source
- Montessori teachers. BLS has no Montessori teacher occupation and no official source publishes Montessori teacher pay, so this page shows NCES school and teacher counts for Montessori schools and no wage. Source
- Heads of school, principals and deans. BLS counts all of them in one K–12 education administrators occupation, so its figures cover the whole leadership team rather than any one title. Source
- Admissions directors, school founders, athletic directors and teaching fellows. BLS has no occupation that fits these roles closely enough, so no BLS figure is shown for them.
Where BLS has no occupation for a role, we name the closest group and label it, or show no figure at all.
Sources: BLS OEWS May 2025 industry estimates, BLS OEWS May 2025 ownership series, BLS Employment Projections 2025–35, BLS OEWS industry codes
BLS Pay and Growth Benchmarks for Schools
In May 2025 the BLS median wage for elementary school teachers was $58,140 in privately owned schools, against $65,260 in local-government-owned schools, which are mainly public school districts.
Teaching assistants are the exception: their median was $37,090 in privately owned schools and $36,970 in local-government-owned schools.
BLS projects little change in teacher employment from 2025 to 2035, but it still expects tens of thousands of openings a year as teachers retire or leave.
| BLS occupation | Median wage, K–12 schools, all ownerships (10th to 90th percentile) | Median, privately owned schools | Median, local-government schools | Growth 2025–35 | Openings a year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Classroom teachers | |||||
| Kindergarten Teachers, Except Special Education SOC 25-2012 | $62,800$47,210 to $102,120 | $51,810 | $63,890 | -0.3% | 11,900 |
| Elementary School Teachers, Except Special Education SOC 25-2021 | $63,980$47,990 to $104,390 | $58,140 | $65,260 | -0.4% | 87,500 |
| Middle School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education SOC 25-2022 | $64,390$48,110 to $102,540 | $60,220 | $65,290 | -0.4% | 38,800 |
| Secondary School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education SOC 25-2031 | $72,340$48,840 to $107,630 | $61,810 | $74,190 | -0.2% | 63,500 |
| Special education teachers | |||||
| Special Education Teachers, Kindergarten and Elementary School SOC 25-2052 | $65,080$49,380 to $103,010 | $61,030 | $65,380 | -0.4% | 16,400 |
| Special Education Teachers, Middle School SOC 25-2057 | $66,760$49,410 to $102,510 | $61,190 | $67,680 | -0.4% | 6,000 |
| Special Education Teachers, Secondary School SOC 25-2058 | $74,510$49,860 to $109,100 | $61,700 | $75,550 | -0.2% | 10,400 |
| Classroom support, leadership and student services | |||||
| Teaching Assistants, Except Postsecondary SOC 25-9045 | $36,990$26,950 to $50,850 | $37,090 | $36,970 | -0.3% | 176,200 |
| Substitute Teachers, Short-Term SOC 25-3031 | $42,890$28,360 to $68,830 | $36,210 | $43,200 | +2.0% | 65,000 |
| Education Administrators, Kindergarten through Secondary SOC 11-9032 | $105,840$76,380 to $167,760 | $98,020 | $107,860 | -0.3% | 20,600 |
| Educational, Guidance, and Career Counselors and Advisors SOC 21-1012 | $76,760$49,940 to $115,960 | $62,190 | $77,800 | +2.9% | 27,800 |
Wages are BLS OEWS May 2025 annual figures for payroll employees: the first column is Elementary and Secondary Schools (NAICS 611100, public and private together), the next two are the national ownership series for privately owned (611105) and local-government-owned (611103) schools. No column is charter school pay, because BLS publishes no charter series. Growth and openings are BLS Employment Projections for the whole occupation in every industry, including replacements for workers who leave.
Sources: BLS OEWS May 2025 industry estimates, BLS OEWS May 2025 ownership series, BLS Employment Projections 2025–35, BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook: teacher assistants
Statistics by Role
Each role page combines live listing figures with the NCES and BLS data for that role.
A role page is published once the board tracks at least 300 of its listings from 25 employers.
- Private School Teacher statistics950 live listings from 164 employers
- Charter School Teacher statistics1,393 live listings from 117 employers
- Catholic School Teacher statistics391 live listings from 56 employers
- Special Education Teacher statistics757 live listings from 135 employers
- Teaching Assistant statistics1,195 live listings from 231 employers
Frequently Asked Questions
How many private and charter school openings are live right now?
SchoolHires listed 7,123 live teaching, leadership and school staff openings at private, independent, faith-based and charter schools from 436 employers on November 13, 2026. The count covers every active listing on the board and is refreshed every six hours.
How many private schools and private school teachers are there?
The NCES Private School Universe Survey counted 29,727 private K–12 schools in 2021–22, enrolling 4,731,303 students. They employed 482,571 full-time-equivalent teachers, or 526,416 teachers by headcount. That survey is the latest NCES private school count; the 2023–24 round had not been published as of October 2026.
How many charter schools are there?
NCES counted 7,998 public charter schools in 2022–23, up from 6,079 ten years earlier. The National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, which counts campuses separately, reported 8,140 charter schools and campuses serving 3.9 million students in 2023–24. As of September 2025, 47 states and DC had a charter school law.
How many teachers work in charter schools?
NCES estimated about 251,000 public charter school teachers in 2020–21, the latest year of its National Teacher and Principal Survey. That year 75.3% of them held a regular state teaching certificate.
How much do private school teachers make?
Regular full-time private school teachers earned an average base salary of $46,400 in 2020–21, the latest NCES teacher survey, against $62,100 in traditional public schools. In privately owned elementary and secondary schools, BLS put the May 2025 median wage for elementary school teachers at $58,140. The two figures come from different surveys and years, so they do not compare directly.
Do charter school teachers earn less than district teachers?
In the 2020–21 NCES teacher survey, regular full-time charter school teachers earned an average base salary of $54,400, against $62,100 in traditional public schools. NCES had published no newer salary figures by sector as of October 2026.
Does BLS publish private school or charter school teacher pay?
No. BLS has no private school or charter school teacher occupation, and its standard teacher figures count every school ownership together. The one exception is a national series for privately owned elementary and secondary schools, which this page shows separately; BLS publishes no charter school series.
Is the teaching workforce growing?
Not much. BLS projects elementary school teacher employment to change by -0.4% and secondary school teacher employment by -0.2% from 2025 to 2035, and teaching assistants by -0.3%, while substitute teachers grow 2.0%. Openings stay large because people leave the field: about 87,500 a year for elementary teachers and 176,200 for teaching assistants (BLS Employment Projections 2025–35).
How many teaching assistants work in private schools?
BLS counted 103,670 teaching assistants on payroll in privately owned elementary and secondary schools in May 2025, with a median annual wage of $37,090. Private schools employ about 9% of all teacher assistants, according to the BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook.
Methodology and Sources
Live figures count every active, paid listing on SchoolHires when the page was generated, and the page refreshes every six hours.
School and teacher counts come from NCES: the 2021–22 Private School Universe Survey, the 2020–21 National Teacher and Principal Survey and its 2021–22 follow-up, and the Digest of Education Statistics.
Federal pay and employment figures are quoted as BLS published them: OEWS May 2025 for payroll jobs and wages, and Employment Projections 2025–35 for growth and openings.
BLS has no occupation for private or charter school teachers, so we show the K–12 teacher occupations and say which schools each figure covers.
The privately owned schools series is the only BLS figure for private schools alone, and BLS publishes no figure for charter schools alone.
Montessori teachers, admissions directors, founders, athletic directors and teaching fellows have no fitting BLS occupation, so no BLS figure is shown for them.
Association figures from NAPCS and NCEA are quoted from the named source with the year they describe, and they are never added to NCES or BLS counts.
- NCES Private School Universe Survey 2021–22, Table 1Private schools, students and FTE teachers by school type, program emphasis and size.
- NCES Private School Universe Survey 2021–22, Table 2Private schools and teachers by religious orientation.
- NCES Private School Universe Survey 2021–22, Table 11Private school teacher headcount and full-time share.
- NCES Private School Universe Survey 2021–22, Table 12Pupil/teacher ratios by school type.
- NCES National Teacher and Principal Survey 2020–21, teacher salary tableAverage base salary of regular full-time teachers by school type.
- NCES Digest of Education Statistics, Table 209.21Charter and traditional public school teacher counts and certification, 2020–21.
- NCES Digest of Education Statistics, Table 205.70Catholic schools and instructional staff, compiled from NCEA data.
- NCES Digest of Education Statistics, Table 216.10Public charter school counts.
- NCES Digest of Education Statistics, Table 216.30Public charter school enrollment.
- National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, Data Digest 2025Charter school and campus counts, enrollment, charter laws and management type.
- National Alliance for Public Charter Schools: How are charter schools managed?Counts of charter and education management organizations.
- NCEA, 2025–26 Catholic school data infographicCatholic school teacher retention and school openings and closures.
- BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, industry filePayroll jobs and wage percentiles in Elementary and Secondary Schools (NAICS 611100, all ownerships).
- BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, ownership series (public data API)Payroll jobs and medians in privately owned (611105) and local-government-owned (611103) elementary and secondary schools.
- BLS OEWS industry code listThe separate BLS industry codes for privately owned and government-owned schools.
- BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, national filePayroll employment and wages for each occupation, all industries.
- BLS Employment Projections 2025–35, Table 1.22025 and 2035 employment (including the self-employed), percent change and average annual openings.
- BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook: Teacher AssistantsShare of teacher assistants employed by private schools.
- SchoolHires job listingsActive, paid listings on the board, queried live.