These profiles accompany Fordham’s report, A Crowded Table: Teacher Union Strength in 2026, which updates Fordham’s 2012 rankings of state teacher union strength.

Drawing on the latest publicly available data and a new survey of K–12 stakeholders in all fifty states and the District of Columbia, researchers Melissa Arnold Lyon, Sandy Frost Waldron, and Rebecca Jacobsen find that the education policy landscape has become increasingly crowded and contested over the past fifteen years. In many states, teacher unions are no longer the dominant voice shaping education policy.

State Profiles

Table 9. State rankings of teacher union strength (Click the column headers to sort by state or overall rank.)

State ▲▼ Overall Rank ▲▼
Alabama 38
Alaska 9
Arizona 43
Arkansas 51
California 2
Colorado 26
Connecticut 12
Delaware 22
District of Columbia 35
Florida 41
Georgia 45
Hawaii 5
Idaho 40
Illinois 7
Indiana 42
Iowa 21
Kansas 25
Kentucky 28
Louisiana 39
Maine 24
Maryland 13
Massachusetts 3
Michigan 18
Minnesota 11
Mississippi 47
Missouri 37
Montana 16
Nebraska 27
Nevada 30
New Hampshire 23
New Jersey 4
New Mexico 20
New York 10
North Carolina 48
North Dakota 31
Ohio 17
Oklahoma 50
Oregon 6
Pennsylvania 15
Rhode Island 8
South Carolina 44
South Dakota 32
Tennessee 49
Texas 46
Utah 34
Vermont 1
Virginia 29
Washington 14
West Virginia 19
Wisconsin 36
Wyoming 33
Tags: Trade union Education in the United States Labor relations Colorado Connecticut Idaho Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Michigan Minnesota Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Oklahoma Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Washington West Virginia Wisconsin
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