Median pay · the United States
$105,870A year. BLS publishes no hourly wage for this occupation.| Percentile | Annual | Hourly |
|---|---|---|
| 10th percentile1 in 10 earn less | $76,280 | Not published |
| 25th percentile | $86,040 | Not published |
| MedianHalf earn more, half less | $105,870 | Not published |
| 75th percentile | $134,630 | Not published |
| 90th percentile1 in 10 earn more | $167,770 | Not published |
| MeanAll pay divided by all jobs | $116,100 | Not published |
Wage survey · BLS May 2025
How we got this
- Median wage in the United StatesBLS OEWS May 2025. Half of the people in this job were paid more than this, half less.$105,870
- Jobs countedWage and salary jobs; the self-employed are not surveyed.328,330
What we assumed
- Wages are BLS OEWS survey estimates for May 2025, not job postings or offers.
- OEWS surveys wage and salary workers. The self-employed and business owners are outside it.
- BLS publishes only an annual wage for this occupation, because a standard 2,080-hour year would misdescribe it.
Technical details
Method occupation-wage-v1Data bls-oews-2025-05-v1
Run the numbers on your own pay
Same U.S. tax tables as the rest of the site. Change the salary, state, or filing status.
Which state pays school principals or district administrators the most?
Washington pays a median of $166,590, West Virginia $80,650. That is a gap of $85,940 before either state's taxes or prices are counted.
- Washington. See take-home and local prices in Washington →
- The nominal figure is not the comparison. A higher salary in an expensive state can leave less than a lower one somewhere cheap. Each state page adjusts for tax and price level.
Common questions
School Principal or District Administrator pay in the United States, answered
How much does a school principal or district administrator make?
The median wage for school principals or district administrators in the United States is $105,870 a year.
Half earn more than that and half earn less. The figure comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics occupational wage survey for May 2025.
What is the average school principal or district administrator salary?
BLS’s mean (average) wage for school principals or district administrators in the United States is $116,100 a year. The median is $105,870.
The mean sits higher when a smaller group of high earners pulls the average up. For a typical paycheck, the median is the better middle.
What is the starting salary for a school principal or district administrator?
BLS does not publish starting pay. The closest figure it does publish is the low end of the range: in the United States, the lowest-paid 10% of school principals or district administrators earn under $76,280 a year and a quarter earn under $86,040.
New hires often start somewhere in that band, but the May 2025 survey does not record experience, so read it as a floor to compare an offer against rather than a typical first salary.
What is the salary range for a school principal or district administrator?
The overall salary range for school principals or district administrators in the United States spans from $76,280 for the bottom 10% to $167,770 for top earners.
The middle 50% earn between $86,040 and $134,630 a year, with the overall median at $105,870.
What do the highest-paid school principals or district administrators earn?
The top tenth earn $167,770 a year or more. The 10th-percentile wage is $76,280.
Experience, specialty, employer and the part of the United States someone works in all move a wage inside that range; the survey reports the spread, not the reason for it.
How many school principals or district administrators are there in the United States?
The survey counted 328,330 of these jobs in the United States for May 2025.
It counts wage and salary jobs, so the self-employed are outside it.