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Tempe, Arizona has 5 accredited schools offering special education programs. Tempe has a population of about 186,419. Median household income is $77,643 (Census ACS 2023, 5-year). About 49.5% of adults 25+ hold a bachelor’s degree or higher. In the Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, AZ metro area, the top-earning special education-related role is Special Education Teacher, Secondary School at a median $64,490 annually (BLS OEWS, May 2025).
The accredited institutions listed below are the closest in our directory that offer special education programs near Tempe, ranked by BOC Score and straight-line distance from Tempe city center. The list is rebuilt from federal IPEDS data on every site update.
Every school list on this site is ordered by the BOC Score, computed from the most recent school-level data published by the U.S. Department of Education (College Scorecard and IPEDS). To qualify, a school must be currently operating and accredited by an agency recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. Each eligible school is then scored on five measures, percentile-ranked against schools at the same credential level:
Schools without enough outcome data appear after ranked schools, without a score. On this page, schools are ordered by distance from Tempe. Advertising never affects these rankings. Read the full methodology.
Source:IPEDSCollege Scorecard
Source:IPEDSCollege Scorecard
Source:IPEDSCollege Scorecard
Source:Accreditor: Higher Learning CommissionIPEDSCollege Scorecard
Source:IPEDSCollege Scorecard
Source:IPEDSCollege Scorecard
Source:Accreditor: Accrediting Commission of Career Schools and CollegesIPEDSCollege Scorecard
Source:IPEDSCollege Scorecard
Source: IPEDS / College Scorecard (2023 cohort). Browse all Arizona schools on the Arizona special education page.
Tempe is part of the Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, AZ metro area (BLS area code 38060). Where MSA-level wages are published, the table below shows MSA medians; otherwise it falls back to Arizona statewide.
| Occupation | Median Wage | Source | COL-Adjusted (US=100) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Special Education Teacher, Kindergarten and Elementary School | $58,930 | Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, AZ | $57,047 |
| Special Education Teacher, Middle School | $62,360 | Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, AZ | $60,368 |
| Special Education Teacher, Secondary School | $64,490 | Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, AZ | $62,430 |
| Special Education Teacher, Preschool | $60,400 | Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, AZ | $58,470 |
Source: BLS, May 2025 Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes wage data at the metro (MSA) and state level – not by individual city.
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Population | 186,419 | Census ACS 2023 5-yr (B01003) |
| Median household income | $77,643 | Census ACS 2023 5-yr (B19013) |
| Adults 25+ with bachelor’s+ | 49.5% | Census ACS 2023 5-yr (B15003) |
| Regional Price Parity (US=100) | 103.3 (above U.S. average) | BEA RPP 2024 |
Our directory has 5 accredited schools offering special education programs near Tempe. The closest is Arizona State University Campus Immersion in Tempe, AZ (2.4 miles), and the farthest of the schools shown is Ottawa University-Surprise (30.2 miles). 5 of the highlighted schools are flagged as offering distance education.
Based on BLS OEWS May 2025 wage data, the top-paying special education-related roles near Tempe are: Special Education Teacher, Secondary School ($64,490), Special Education Teacher, Middle School ($62,360), Special Education Teacher, Preschool ($60,400). These reflect MSA-level medians where published, with Arizona statewide fallback for occupations not reported at the metro level.
Chandler, AZ is 8.6 miles from Tempe and has its own set of local special education programs – see the city’s page. For online programs, distance matters less; for hybrid or in-person formats, comparing both can help.
Tempe’s median household income of $77,643 (Census ACS 2023) is one input. Online programs let students stay in Tempe while attending lower-cost out-of-state schools, and Arizona public universities often offer reduced in-state online tuition.
Confirm institutional accreditation via the U.S. Department of Education database (U.S. Dept. of Education database), and check for any program-specific accreditation listed by the school.
Compare every accredited online degree program with city-level data for Tempe:
Data verified: July 30, 2026. Salary, employment, and tuition figures on this page are sourced from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (OEWS May 2025; Employment Projections 2024–2034) and the U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard (2023 cohort). The source agency and data year are cited inline with every statistic.
Back to Best Online Special Education Programs in Arizona (2026)
