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TEFL Salary Index: English teacher salaries by country, checked and dated

Monthly pay for English teachers on this index runs from about €655 in Thailand to €7,615 in Hong Kong on the government NET scheme. Korea’s EPIK pays €1,430–1,820 a month, Japan’s JET about €22,500 a year, and Spain’s NALCAP assistants €800–1,000. The JET 2027 application opened on 21 September 2026 and closes on 13 November. Every figure is taken from the programme’s own pay scale, not from job adverts.

Updated 18 August 2026 against official programme sources. EPIK and JET re-read at source on 30 September 2026, and every euro conversion recomputed at the ECB reference rates of 29 September 2026. TAPIF and the Hong Kong NET salary scale were re-read at source on 14 October 2026

What English teachers actually earn abroad, in local currency and euro, from public school programmes in Korea and Japan to language centres in Vietnam and assistant posts in Spain. Every line comes from an official pay scale or programme page, carries the date we checked it, and gets corrected in place the moment a ministry moves the numbers.

Updated 9 September 2026. Four figures on this desk have moved. Korea’s EPIK range previously read 2.1–2.8M KRW; the official salary and benefits page states that the offices of education are not hiring Level 3 and that all applicants must qualify for at least Level 2, so the floor now reads 2.35M. Taiwan’s TFETP pay and its 980-position count have been withdrawn because both official pages returned no readable content when checked on 31 August and again today. Every euro conversion on this desk has been recomputed at the European Central Bank reference rates published on 8 September 2026, replacing a mix of European Commission and older ECB rates, so the Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Vietnam and Thailand euro figures have all shifted. Local-currency figures are unchanged apart from Korea and Taiwan.
Updated 23 September 2026. Three things have moved. Korea: the EPIK floor published here on 9 September as 2.35M KRW was wrong. The official salary and benefits page shows Level 2 paying 2.2M in most regions, with 2.35M the top of Level 2 rather than its bottom, so the range now reads 2.2–2.8M. Edition 4 carries the full correction. Japan: the JET 2027 application opened on 21 September 2026 and closes on 13 November 2026 at 11:59pm HST for US applicants, so the row moves from ON THE WIRE to LIVE WIRE and now carries the deadline. Both were re-read at source today. Online: the €9–22 an hour range has been removed. Preply and italki publish the commission they take, not a rate they pay, so no figure on that row traced to an official source. Every euro conversion has been recomputed at the European Central Bank reference rates published on 22 September 2026, replacing the rates of 8 September, so the Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Vietnam and Thailand euro figures have all shifted. Local-currency figures are unchanged apart from Korea.
Updated 30 September 2026. France: this desk said the 2027/28 assistant applications open in November. No opening date is published anywhere, so the row and its schema now say that the last cycle opened on 3 November and that early November is a pattern rather than a promise. The signal chip moves from ON THE WIRE · NOV to ON THE WIRE · NO DATE. Korea: EPIK’s salary and benefits page was re-read today and the 2.2M to 2.8M range is confirmed, with the offices of education still not hiring Level 3. Every euro conversion has been recomputed at the European Central Bank reference rates published on 29 September 2026, replacing the rates of 22 September, so the Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Vietnam and Thailand euro figures have all shifted. Local-currency figures are unchanged.
Updated 14 October 2026. Two things have moved. France: this desk said no 2027/28 opening date was published and that early November was a pattern rather than a promise. Villa Albertine published the window and it was read at source today: TAPIF 2027/28 opens on 15 October 2026 and closes on 15 February 2027. The row, its signal chip and its schema now carry those dates, and the “pattern” wording is retired. Hong Kong: the visible pay range on this desk read HK$34,060–65,875, about €3,820–7,390, which was an older scale. The Education Bureau’s own recruitment page, re-read today, gives HK$35,080 to HK$67,850 for the APSM rank, which is the figure this desk’s own structured data and the hub board have carried since 30 September. The visible row was the outlier and is corrected to HK$35,080–67,850, about €3,935–7,615, at the ECB reference rates of 29 September 2026. No other local-currency figure changed and no other euro conversion was recomputed, so every other check date on this page stands as written.
Updated 21 October 2026. France: the TAPIF window opened on 15 October as published, so the row, its signal chip and its schema move out of the future tense. The chip moves from ON THE WIRE · OPENS 15 OCT to LIVE WIRE · CLOSES 15 FEB, and the row now sorts as a destination hiring now rather than one still to open. This was a between-editions check of a window that has opened, not a full sweep: no pay figure was changed, no source was re-read and no euro conversion was recomputed, so every check date and the ECB rate date of 29 September 2026 stand exactly as written.

The pay desk

The Salary Index

Every line on the board, in one sortable table. Pay in local currency with euro conversions, checked against official sources and refreshed with every edition.

Sort by


Where & programme Monthly pay ▾ Window / timing Signal
Hong Kong
Government NET Scheme, primary schools
HK$35,080–67,850 / mo (APSM rank, MPS Pt. 15 to 29)
≈ €3,935–7,615 + housing allowance
Next round expected spring 2027 ON THE WIRE · 2027
Japan
JET Programme 2027 intake
4.02M JPY / yr
≈ €22,500 a year
Opened 21 September 2026. Closes 13 November 2026, 11:59pm HST for US applicants. Other countries set their own dates LIVE WIRE
South Korea
EPIK Spring 2027, public schools
2.2–2.8M KRW / mo
≈ €1,430–1,820 + housing, flights, bonus
Rolling admission. Spring 2027 marked just opened from 1 August 2026 LIVE WIRE
Vietnam
Language centres
$1,200–2,000 / mo
≈ €1,055–1,760
Peak hiring July to October LIVE WIRE
Thailand
Schools nationwide, semester two
฿25,000–55,000 / mo
≈ €655–1,445
Recruiting Aug to Oct, November start LIVE WIRE
Spain
NALCAP language assistants
€800–1,000 / mo stipend Shut until 2027, no date published LINE CLOSED
France
Language assistant posts
€810 / mo net stipend
30–35% more in overseas regions
TAPIF 2027/28 opened on 15 October 2026 and closes on 15 February 2027, read on Villa Albertine 14 October 2026. The US route; other nationalities apply through their own national body LIVE WIRE · CLOSES 15 FEB
Online
Preply and italki tutoring
Set your own rate
Preply and italki publish the commission they take, not a rate they pay
Onboarding tutors now LIVE WIRE
Taiwan
TFETP
Not published
official page not loading
Rolling intake. Both official TFETP pages returned no readable content on 31 Aug and 9 Sep 2026, so no figure is restated LIVE WIRE
Updated 18 August 2026, EPIK and JET re-read at source 30 September 2026, TAPIF and the Hong Kong NET scale 14 October 2026
Euro conversions at the European Central Bank reference rates of 29 September 2026

Our Editorial Charter

Checked, dated, corrected in place

Every figure on this desk comes from an official source, a ministry circular, an embassy notice or the platform’s own pay page. Each line carries the date we last checked it, and when something changes we correct it in place and say so. That is the standard the whole publication runs on.

Read the full Editorial Charter →




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