by Jacob Sanchez, Fort Worth Report
December 17, 2025

Arlington ISD offers some of the highest teacher salaries on the western half of the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex.

The Fort Worth-based United Educators Association, or UEA, recently issued its annual appraisal of school district salaries.

The comparison examined the pay structures of 32 districts, ranging from a teacher with no experience to a 30-year veteran. UEA also looked at the differences between teachers with a bachelor’s degree and those with a master’s.

Arlington ISD came out on top nearly across the board. The only exception was for teachers in their 30th year where Irving ISD beat the Tarrant County district.

Arlington teachers start at $66,100. By year 30, an Arlington teacher earns $83,500. Irving edges out Arlington with its $83,891 salary for that level of experience.

Fort Worth ISD, the largest district in west DFW, has a starting salary of $64,500.

Teachers across the state saw pay bumps after the Texas Legislature approved $4 billion for staff pay raises. However, the law did not provide funding to increase starting salaries so some districts, including Fort Worth, took on that cost.

Jacob Sanchez is education editor for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at jacob.sanchez@fortworthreport.org or @_jacob_sanchez. 

At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.

This <a target=”_blank” href=”https://fortworthreport.org/2025/12/17/teachers-in-this-tarrant-county-school-district-earn-the-highest-salaries/”>article</a> first appeared on <a target=”_blank” href=”https://fortworthreport.org”>Fort Worth Report</a> and is republished here under a <a target=”_blank” href=”https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/”>Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License</a>.<img src=”https://i0.wp.com/fortworthreport.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/cropped-favicon.png?resize=150%2C150&amp;quality=80&amp;ssl=1″ style=”width:1em;height:1em;margin-left:10px;”>

<img id=”republication-tracker-tool-source” src=”https://fortworthreport.org/?republication-pixel=true&post=331631&amp;ga4=2820184429″ style=”width:1px;height:1px;”><script> PARSELY = { autotrack: false, onload: function() { PARSELY.beacon.trackPageView({ url: “https://fortworthreport.org/2025/12/17/teachers-in-this-tarrant-county-school-district-earn-the-highest-salaries/”, urlref: window.location.href }); } } </script> <script id=”parsely-cfg” src=”//cdn.parsely.com/keys/fortworthreport.org/p.js”></script>