Teacher pay in Israel, net of tax in 2026
Median gross runs ₪120,000 a year on the national Ministry of Education scale. Bituach leumi, mas briut and income tax leave ₪8,417 a month.
How teaching pay is spread, percentile by percentile
Annual gross taken from the Ministry of Education salary tables, covering both secular mamlachti and religious state mamlachti-dati schools, with principal and supervisor posts at the top of the range.
| Percentile | Annual Gross | BL + Mas Briut | Income Tax | Monthly Net (est.) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| P25 | ₪90,000 | ~₪6,800 | ~₪2,200 | ~₪6,750/mo |
| Median | ₪120,000 | ~₪9,500 | ~₪9,500 | ₪8,417/mo |
| P75 | ₪155,000 | ~₪11,500 | ~₪17,000 | ~₪10,542/mo |
| P90 | ₪195,000 | ~₪13,500 | ~₪30,000 | ~₪12,625/mo |
2.25 basic credit points (₪5,121/year) applied. International and private school salaries may differ significantly.
By seniority and by type of school
National education salary table combined with vetek (seniority) increments.
| Level | Gross Range (₪/yr) | Monthly Net (est.) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Junior teacher (0-5 yrs) | ₪90,000 - ₪100,000 | ~₪7,000/mo | Often part-time initially |
| Experienced teacher (5-20 yrs) | ₪120,000 - ₪160,000 | ~₪9,333/mo | Full position standard |
| Vice principal / coordinator | ₪145,000 - ₪185,000 | ~₪11,000/mo | Management allowance added |
| Principal (menahel) | ₪170,000 - ₪220,000 | ~₪13,083/mo | Elected/appointed position |
The national scale, set by Misrad Hachinukh and Histadrut HaMorim
No individual school or local authority sets teaching pay here. The Ministry of Education negotiates it nationally with the National Teachers' Union, the Histadrut HaMorim, which ranks among the most powerful and historically combative unions in the country and has run several major strikes across the past three decades that produced real salary gains.
The comprehensive yehu"r agreement of 2011 rebuilt both pay and working conditions. Before it, teaching loads were extremely heavy against the salary attached. The reform cut official teaching hours, created clearer progression tracks and lifted base salaries by 25% to 40% across a phased rollout. Later rounds in 2017 and 2022 added further increments tied to inflation and productivity benchmarks.
Progression rests mainly on vetek, meaning seniority, with every additional year triggering an automatic increment. Qualifications also decide where you start on the table, whether that is a bachelor's or master's degree and what level of teaching certification you hold. A teacher with a Master of Education and fifteen years of service earns roughly 35% to 45% more than a new colleague holding a bachelor's degree in the same school.
State, religious, haredi and international schools: what changes
Several streams make up the school system. Mamlachti secular schools and mamlachti-dati national religious schools both work from the same national salary table, so teachers in each earn essentially identical amounts. Religious orientation changes nothing about base pay, and both streams are funded entirely by the state.
Independent haredi schools, the recognised unofficial mukar lo rasmi network, receive partial state funding and set their own supplementary arrangements. Total pay is occasionally a little higher, alongside less transparent employment conditions and quite different pedagogical expectations.
International schools occupy an entirely separate bracket. The Tel Aviv International School, the Jerusalem American School and the American School of Tel Aviv recruit English-speaking teachers on dollar salaries, typically $50,000 to $85,000 a year, which converts to roughly ₪185,000 to ₪315,000. Housing allowances, flight reimbursement and health cover frequently come with the post. Competition is fierce and most vacancies require IB or American state certification.
Private schools, including several French, British and bilingual institutions in Tel Aviv, pay 15% to 25% above the public tables, funded by substantial tuition fees. Israeli teachers holding foreign qualifications or working bilingually are best placed to capture that premium.
A teacher on ₪120,000, taken apart
Teaching income is taxed exactly like any other employment income, with no profession-specific exemption or reduction of the sort some countries use to attract people into schools. On ₪120,000 gross the calculation runs like this:
- 10% on first ₪75,960 = ₪7,596
- 14% on ₪75,961-₪108,960 = ₪4,620
- 20% on ₪108,961-₪120,000 = ₪2,208
- Total before credit points: ₪14,424
- Less 2.25 credit points: -₪5,121
- Net income tax: ≈₪9,303 ≈ ₪9,500
Bituach leumi and mas briut add roughly ₪9,500 a year, and the compulsory 7% pension contribution of ₪8,400 trims taxable income a little further. Once everything has come off, take-home is about ₪101,000 a year, which is ₪8,417 a month.
Total deductions on ₪120,000 come to roughly 16%, which makes teachers among the more lightly taxed professional groups in the public sector at this income. Set that against technology workers earning three or four times as much and facing effective rates above 30%, and the benefit the progressive structure delivers to middle incomes becomes obvious.
An honest account of what the job involves
For all it improved salaries, the yehu"r reform never resolved the tension at the centre of the job: the distance between the official mashrat hora'a teaching position and the hours actually worked. Positions are defined by weekly lessons, with a full post running 24 to 30 depending on level. Preparation, marking, parent meetings and administration then add another 15 to 25 hours that nobody counts.
Conditions in the classroom differ enormously. Schools in affluent parts of Tel Aviv such as Ramat Aviv, Neve Tzedek and the north of the city generally have better equipment and more engaged parents. Peripheral cities including Beersheba, Dimona and Sderot contend with far greater socioeconomic disadvantage, though the ministry compensates through additional teaching hours in designated ezori adifut priority areas, worth ₪6,000 to ₪12,000 a year to teachers working there.
PISA results have improved appreciably since 2011 while staying under the OECD average in reading and mathematics. Since 2014 the government has concentrated on embedding computer science and the sciences in the curriculum, and teachers holding certified qualifications in those subjects earn modest additional allowances while facing less of the instability that shortages create for arts and humanities colleagues.