Substitute teachers earned a median annual wage of $37,380 as of May 2023, per the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, but requirements vary sharply by state: California mandates a bachelor's degree for its Emergency 30-Day Substitute Teaching Permit, while New York allows uncertified adults to sub up to 40 days a year without one. Districts inside the same state can add their own rules on top of whatever the state sets as a floor.
That gap is not an accident. States set their own minimum qualifications for substitute teaching, and many have loosened those minimums since 2022 as schools struggled to keep classrooms covered. The result is a job with one job title and dozens of different entry points, depending on where a candidate lives and which district is hiring.
What Do States Actually Require to Substitute Teach?
Most states set a floor — a permit or credential a candidate must hold before a district can hire them — and then let individual districts add requirements on top. There is no single national standard, and the floor ranges from a high school diploma in some states to a bachelor's degree in others.
California sits at the stricter end. To hold the state's Emergency 30-Day Substitute Teaching Permit, an applicant must submit official transcripts showing a baccalaureate or higher degree from a regionally accredited college, complete fingerprinting, and pay a processing fee, according to the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing. The permit is valid for one year from the date it is issued or renewed.
New York takes a different approach: the state does not issue a stand-alone substitute teaching certificate at all. Instead, the New York State Education Department places substitutes into three categories. Someone who already holds a teaching certificate can substitute in any subject for any number of days. Someone working toward certification, with at least six semester hours of coursework a year, can also substitute without a day limit. An uncertified person with no plans to pursue certification is capped at 40 days per school or BOCES (Board of Cooperative Educational Services, a shared regional service agency) in a school year, though a district can extend that to 90 days if its superintendent certifies that a good-faith search found no certified teacher available. Individual New York districts, including New York City's public schools, can still layer on their own degree or licensing requirements.
Because the floor is set state by state and the ceiling is set district by district, the honest answer to "what do I need to substitute teach" is: it depends on the state and the district, and a candidate should check both before assuming a national standard applies.
How Much Do Substitute Teachers Get Paid?
Substitute teachers, short-term — the classification the Bureau of Labor Statistics uses for the role — held an estimated 444,530 jobs nationally as of May 2023, the agency's most recent Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics release. The mean annual wage across all industries was $43,570, while the median was lower, at $37,380, reflecting a wage distribution with a long upper tail.
Elementary and secondary schools employed the large majority of substitutes counted in the data — 376,340 of the 444,530 total, or about 85 percent — with a mean annual wage of $44,650 in that specific industry, slightly above the all-industry average.
| Percentile | Annual Wage |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile | $24,420 |
| 25th percentile | $29,880 |
| 50th percentile (median) | $37,380 |
| 75th percentile | $48,590 |
| 90th percentile | $63,140 |
These are national figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' May 2023 wage estimates; local pay depends on the district's per-day rate, how many days a substitute actually works, and whether the assignment is short-term or a longer-term placement covering an extended teacher absence, which some districts pay at a higher rate.
Why Are States Loosening Substitute Teacher Rules?
Several states relaxed substitute qualifications starting in 2022, after school staffing shortages made day-to-day classroom coverage harder to guarantee, according to a February 2023 Education Week analysis of state policy changes. Arizona eliminated the bachelor's degree requirement for its substitute teaching certificate through SB 1159, signed in 2022, and separately removed a 120-day cap on how long a substitute certificate could be used while extending emergency substitute certificates from one year to two. Missouri cut the college credit requirement for substitute eligibility from 60 credits to 36. Wisconsin dropped substitute teacher training as a prerequisite for obtaining a permit.
An Education Week Research Center survey cited in the same analysis found that 92 percent of more than 400 K-12 recruiters surveyed in fall 2022 said they had trouble finding enough substitute teachers, a data point that helps explain why states acted.
The trend has critics. Leslie Fenwick of the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education warned, in comments cited by Education Week, that lowering standards risks reproducing existing inequities and could disproportionately affect low-income students and students of color, who are more likely to be in classrooms staffed by underqualified substitutes when shortages are worst. Other education leaders see a narrower opportunity: Nathan Quesnel, superintendent of East Hartford Public Schools in Connecticut, told Education Week that hiring college students as substitutes lets districts vet candidates directly and gives those students early mentorship in the classroom. Because state law changes on a rolling basis, a candidate should confirm current requirements with the state education agency rather than relying on any single year's policy summary — including this one.
How Do Requirements Compare Between States?
The California and New York rules illustrate the range a prospective substitute is likely to encounter. Both are drawn from each state's own credentialing authority rather than a national database, since no single federal standard governs the role.
| California | New York (uncertified, Category 3) | |
|---|---|---|
| Degree requirement | Bachelor's degree required statewide | No state degree requirement; districts may add one |
| State-issued permit | Emergency 30-Day Substitute Teaching Permit | None — governed by day limits, not a certificate |
| Day limit | Permit valid one year, renewable | 40 days per school/BOCES per year, extendable to 90 |
| Background check | Fingerprinting required | Set by hiring district |
The comparison shows why generic national guides about "how to become a substitute teacher" can mislead: the two largest state education systems in the country run on structurally different models, one built around a state-issued permit with a degree floor, the other built around day-count limits with certification treated as an exemption from those limits.
What Are the Typical Steps to Apply?
The specific paperwork differs by state and district, but most substitute teaching applications follow a similar sequence.
- Confirm the minimum qualification your state sets — a permit, an emergency certificate, or simply a diploma — by checking the state education agency's website, since this is the floor districts build on.
- Complete any required education verification, such as submitting transcripts showing a degree, if the state requires one.
- Complete a background check and fingerprinting, which nearly every state and district requires regardless of degree rules.
- Apply directly to a district, a group of districts, or a staffing agency that places substitutes in multiple schools, since hiring is local even where the credential is issued by the state.
- Complete any district-specific orientation or training before the first classroom assignment.
This is general information, not a guarantee of placement or pay — your district, state, and situation vary, and a candidate should verify current requirements directly with the relevant state education agency before applying.
For a related careers perspective, read Substitute Teaching Pays a $37,380 Median as State Rules Diverge.