Nassau County is the third-highest paying county for classroom teachers in the state, with a median teacher pay level of over $121,000, according to Empire Center, an independent Albany-based non-profit think tank.
Of New York’s 62 counties, both Nassau and Suffolk appeared in the top five highest-paying counties for teachers, according to the Empire Center. The center ranked Nassau at No. 3 with a median teacher pay of $121,840 and Suffolk County at No. 5 with a median teacher pay of $119,123 based on 2023-2024 school year salaries.
At the district level, 54 of Nassau’s 56 districts and 59 of Suffolk’s 69 had a median teacher pay over $100,000, Empire Center said. Cold Spring Harbor is Long Island’s highest-paying district, with a median teacher pay of $150,089.
The county with the lowest median teacher pay is Wyoming County, totaling $50,156.
The median classroom teacher pay is collected from state Education Department data and only includes salaries for full-time teachers, according to Abdullah Ar Rafee, a center spokesperson. The list does not include district administrators.
The Empire Center completed a separate study, including administrator and other staff salaries, in which two Nassau County districts appeared in the top 10 highest-paying districts: Jericho Union Free School District, at No. 2, with an average of $148,310, and Bellmore-North Merrick Central High School District, at No. 6, with an average of $137,348.
The average full-time salary in the state during the 2023-2024 school year was $94,732, the center said.
The center said the lowest-paying district in Nassau is Floral Park-Bellerose Union Free School District, ranking No. 208 and averaging $97,417. The study included 705 public school districts.
The numbers in this study refer to total pay for the year, including staff members’ regular salaries, additional compensation for extra instructional programs or extended hours and certain fringe benefits, among other factors, Rafee said.
Statewide a total of 75,056, representing 31.3% of New York educators, received six-figure salaries, the Empire Center said. The center said 33,834 of these represent Long Island.
The center said that of the approximate 75,000 educators earning six figures, 81 received over $300,000 in the state. The center said 1,688 received more than $200,000, a number that has more than doubled since 2019.
The center said four educators representing Nassau County are on the list of earning the top 10 highest salaries in the state, including No. 1.
Benjamin Ciuffo, a now retired assistant superintendent from Jericho, ranked No. 1 with a salary of $599,525; Kishore Kuncham, the new retired superintendent of schools in Freeport, ranked No. 2 with a salary of $448,773; Francesco Ianni, the superintendent of schools at Oyster Bay-East Norwich, ranked No. 9 with a salary of $376,036; and Allison M Feldman of the Roslyn school district, ranked No. 10 with a salary of $369,220, according to the Empire Center. Feldman’s position within the district was not included in the study.
According to school district data from the 2023-2024 school year, Jericho had an enrollment of 3,237, Freeport had an enrollment of 6,206, Oyster Bay-East Norwich had an enrollment of 1,347 and Roslyn had an enrollment of 3,308. The highest enrollment in the county is in the Sewanhaka Central High School District, with 7,755 students.
The Empire Center said three main factors contribute to the high salaries in the region, including a higher cost of living, strength of union contracts and geographic location. Rafee said the geography of Nassau County and Suffolk County has led to a larger number of school districts than other regions, creating more administrative roles in the region.
For more information on the Empire Center and its findings, visit empirecenter.org.
