How Much Do I Pay a Preschool Teacher?

You’ve decided to hire a teacher for your preschool but how do you decide what a preschool teacher salary is? Where do you find preschool teachers to hire? And can you even afford to hire a preschool teacher? Find all these answers and more!

How To Determine How Much Preschool Teachers In Your Area Make

One way to determine how much to pay your preschool teachers is to research how much preschool teachers in your area are making. You can find these kinds of employees on job boards like Indeed.com, and on Craigslist.com. Do a search on these sites for “preschool teacher [your area.]”

It’s possible that you won’t find any listings for actual preschool teachers because there are few places that are strictly preschools, and the ones that are are usually home preschools that are not large enough to hire employees. 

Most preschool teachers take positions as daycare providers. They may even start their own home daycares and work 12-hour days taking care of children of all ages, including infants who need diaper changes. They may also take teaching jobs with the Head Start program. Those jobs often come with a lot of drama, a lot of paperwork, large class sizes, and children in heartbreaking situations.

The reason this blog post starts with comparing preschool teaching positions is because it gives you an idea of how to structure your employment package. What can you offer to your teacher(s) that they aren’t finding elsewhere? It also can give you an idea of the pay range for your area.

Structuring Your Employment Package

As stated in the last section, the options for preschool teachers are not usually very desirable. What can you offer your potential employees? Here are some ideas:

• Higher pay
• A drama free school
• The opportunity to teach they way they want to teach
• A supply budget
• Little to no paperwork
• No diaper changes!

Adding value to your employment package is a great way to attract great teachers for your preschool.

Formula To Determine How Much You Can Pay Your Preschool Teacher

Now how much to pay your preschool teachers? Some of the job listings you find in your research will list the starting pay for preschool teachers in your area. Use this formula to figure out what your pay rate should be:

STEP 1: Answer these questions —

• How much are you going to charge per student for your class?
• How many students will your class have once your class is full?
• How many hours will your class be?
• How many days a week is your class going to be?

STEP 2: Using these answers —

$100 per student—12 students for a full class—2 days a week

Amount per student X number of students = Amount that class is worth (if it is full)

i.e. $100 X 12 = $1200

STEP 3: Using these answers —

2 ½ hour class—2 days a week

Number of hours X Number of days = Number of hours per week X 4 weeks in a month

i.e. 2.5 X 2 = 5 X 4 = 20

STEP 4: Figure teacher pay at $15.00 per hour (as an example) —

Number of hours per month X Teacher pay = Monthly pay for teacher

i.e. 20 X $15 = $300

STEP 5: Putting it all together —

Teacher Pay + Supply Budget

$300 per month pays for your teacher’s monthly pay

+100 per month for supply budget

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$400 per month total

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Therefore you need 4 students (at $100 per student) to pay for your teacher each month

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$1200 Total (revenue for a full class – 12 students)

-$400 (teacher pay + supply budget)

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$800 Profit for a full class

If you add a second class, your profit doubles. If you have more space, you can add a second teacher (or third or fourth!) for even more profit! So paying a preschool teacher an attractive salary is good business for your preschool.