How Much Do Teachers Make in Canada? Teacher Salary Grids by Province

Public school teachers are paid from salary grids in collective agreements, which the agreements also call salary schedules or salary scales. In Alberta and Toronto, for example, a teacher’s place on the grid depends on qualifications and years of experience. Job Bank’s figure is a different kind: a national median of $45.67 an hour for secondary school teachers and $43.27 for primary school teachers, for 2023-2024. What those figures measure is further down.

Teacher salary grids by province

The columns are each province’s own qualification levels, so the figures don’t line up from one row to the next, and some grids have lower columns than the ones shown.

Several of these agreements have passed the end of their terms: Saskatchewan’s continues until it is revised, Manitoba’s renews itself each year unless either side gives notice, Nova Scotia’s runs until a new agreement is reached, and Newfoundland and Labrador’s renews for one-year periods. The Toronto agreement’s term ran from September 1, 2022 to August 31, 2026, and Ontario’s education unions served notice to bargain in June 2026. Each province’s section below names its teachers’ pension plan; how workplace pension plans work is on its own page. Other public-sector pay scales are on the government workers and nurses pages.

How a teacher salary grid works

The column. In Ontario, members of AEFO, ETFO, OECTA and OSSTF are evaluated by QECO for a salary category from A to A4, based on their academic achievement. British Columbia’s Teacher Qualification Service evaluates a certified teacher’s academic and professional qualifications and assigns a TQS category. In Alberta, a statement of qualifications from the Alberta Teacher Qualifications Service sets the education used for the grid. In Saskatchewan, school boards decide each teacher’s class from certification and academic standing. Quebec classifies teachers by years of schooling: 17 or fewer, 18, 19 or more without a doctorate, or 19 or more with a third-cycle doctorate. Nova Scotia’s regional centres use the teacher’s certificate classification and a record of teaching service.

The step. Manitoba’s agreement moves a teacher to the next step after the equivalent of 10 months of full-time teaching. In Quebec, a full-time school year of at least 155 days of teaching counts as a year of experience. Saskatchewan’s agreement puts a teacher with no experience who began teaching in Saskatchewan on or after September 1, 2025 at step 1, and credits earlier teaching service at one step a year, up to the top of the teacher’s class. British Columbia’s new agreement places newly appointed teachers on the third step.

Each province’s grid

British Columbia

The 2025-2029 provincial agreement covers all public school teachers from kindergarten to grade 12, for July 1, 2025, to June 30, 2029, with a general increase of 3% a year. Vancouver’s grid (School District No. 39) from July 1, 2026:

Pension plan: the Teachers’ Pension Plan.

Alberta

The legislated central terms under the Back to School Act (2025) replaced the salary grids in all collective agreements on September 1, 2026 with the Grande Prairie School Division’s grid, steps 0 to 9. Five divisions keep their own grids: The Fort McMurray School Division, The Fort McMurray Roman Catholic Separate School Division, The Fort Vermilion School Division, The Northland School Division, and The Peace River School Division. The central terms add 3% to all salary grids from September 1, 2027.

Pension plan: the Alberta Teachers’ Retirement Fund.

Saskatchewan

The grid is from the 2023-2026 Provincial Collective Bargaining Agreement, for September 1, 2025, to August 31, 2026. The agreement continues until it is revised under The Education Act, 1995, and the Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation said on October 13, 2026 that provincial bargaining would begin later that month.

Pension plan: the Saskatchewan Teachers’ Retirement Plan.

Manitoba

The 2022-2026 Provincial Teachers’ Agreement put all teachers on one harmonized grid from the first day of the 2026/27 school year. The agreement ran to June 30, 2026 and renews itself each year unless either party gives written notice.

Pension plan: the Teachers’ Retirement Allowances Fund.

Ontario

The grid shown is the Toronto District School Board’s for its elementary teachers, from the TDSB-ETFO collective agreement, effective September 1, 2025. The agreement’s term ran from September 1, 2022 to August 31, 2026, and Ontario’s education unions served notice to bargain in June 2026.

Pension plan: the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan.

Quebec

Quebec teachers are paid on one scale of 16 échelons under the 2023-2028 national agreement, which ends on March 31, 2028. The 2025-2026 and 2026-2027 scales each take effect on the 141st working day of that school year.

Pension plan: the Government and Public Employees Retirement Plan (RREGOP), which covers the education sector.

New Brunswick

The agreement with the New Brunswick Teachers’ Federation runs from March 1, 2026 to February 28, 2031; Schedule G-3 applies from March 25, 2026 to February 28, 2027.

Pension plan: the New Brunswick Teachers’ Pension Plan.

Nova Scotia

The Teachers’ Provincial Agreement ran from August 1, 2023 to August 31, 2026, or until a new agreement is reached; Schedule D5 covers August 1, 2025 to August 31, 2026.

Pension plan: the Teachers’ Pension Plan.

Prince Edward Island

The agreement between the Education Negotiating Agency and the Prince Edward Island Teachers’ Federation runs from September 1, 2024 to August 31, 2027. The scale below covers September 1, 2026 to January 31, 2027; a scale 1% higher applies from February 1, 2027.

Pension plan: the Prince Edward Island Teachers’ Pension Plan.

Newfoundland and Labrador

The NLTA Provincial Collective Agreement’s term ran from September 1, 2022 to August 31, 2026, and it renews for one-year periods. Its Schedule C scale for September 1, 2025 to August 31, 2026, as read for teachers who started on or after September 1, 2002:

Pension plan: the Teachers’ Pension Plan, run by the Teachers’ Pension Plan Corporation of Newfoundland and Labrador.

The territories’ grids aren’t covered here. The Government of the Northwest Territories publishes its agreement with the NWT Teachers’ Association, and the Government of Nunavut its agreement with the Nunavut Teachers Association.

Supply and occasional teachers

• Alberta: the full-day rate is $271 from September 1, 2025, plus 3% from September 1, 2026, which makes it $279.13.
• Toronto District School Board: occasional teachers under the ETFO agreement are paid $289.52 a day for the first 100 days worked and $299.05 after that, and the agreement says these rates include vacation and statutory holiday pay.
• Nova Scotia: a substitute’s daily rate is 75% of TC5 step 1 divided by 195, which on Schedule D5 is $244.86; a substitute who replaces the same teacher for more than 10 consecutive teaching days is paid as a regular teacher retroactively for all days employed in that school year.
• New Brunswick: supply teachers are paid on the salary grid from day 6 of continuous service in the same assignment.

What Job Bank and the Census measure

Job Bank’s wages are hourly wages from Statistics Canada’s Labour Force Survey for 2023-2024: the national median is $45.67 an hour for secondary school teachers (NOC 41220) and $43.27 for primary school teachers (NOC 41221). Statistics Canada’s 2021 Census table 98-10-0586-01 gives the median employment income in 2020 of people who worked full year, full time: $85,000 for secondary school teachers and $80,000 for elementary school and kindergarten teachers. This page doesn’t set them beside the grids above. More of Job Bank’s figures: salary by profession.