What do Teachers Make? Educator Salaries by the Numbers

If you’re giving earnest consideration to becoming an educator, chances are that you’re not doing it to make yourself rich.  Let’s face it, when is the last time that you saw a teacher on the cover of Forbes? More likely you are interested in the noble pursuit of the education of young minds.  But as in any profession, in order to understand what your career choice is likely to mean for you in regards to compensation, it’s important to take a good hard look at the numbers.

So we’ve taken some of the most recent information provided by the folks over at the American Federation of Teachers (affiliated Union under AFL-CIO) to give you a comprehensive overview of educator compensation including average salaries, high and low starting points, and relation to similar professions so that you have a great idea exactly what you can expect.

1.  HIGHEST AND  LOWEST BEGINNING SALARIES

Average Starting Teacher Salaries by State Top 10

So if you’re thinking about becoming a teacher in New Jersey, the good news is that it looks like you’ll be starting at over $40K annually.  Not bad for right out of college.  The Eastern seaboard looks well represented with Connecticut, Maryland, Delaware and New York joining NJ.

Average Starting Teacher Salaries by State Bottom 10

Taking a look at the lower portion of the starting salaries you’ll see that the Northwest portion of the country has a low starting point for teachers with Idaho, Nebraska, Utah, Montana, North and South Dakota all in the bottom 10.  As the exception that proves the rule, Maine represents the North East also showing up in the bottom 10.

BOTTOM LINE: The top beginning salary is slightly over $44,000 while the bottom represents just under $27,000.   That’s a pretty significant shift.  Granted the fact that you’re most inclined to teach near your home, but if you have occasion to select where you’d like to teach, the Northeast doesn’t look all that bad if you have the opportunity.

2. HIGHEST AND LOWEST AVERAGE SALARIES

Average Teacher Salaries By State Top 10

So you’re ok with where you’re going to start, but you’re thinking long term.  You’d like to know how the overall status appears for your given state.  Taking a look you’ll see that there is some parity between starting and average salaries.  California, Connecticut, New Jersey, New York and Maryland show up on both lists, meaning that in addition to starting with a higher salary your growth potential continues to be the strongest.    Rhode Island, Illinois, Michigan and Pennsylvania round out your top ten further showing that the Northeast and its shared Midwest states have the strongest salary potential.

Average Teacher Salaries By State Bottom 10

Once again the Dakota’s have an appearance in the bottom 10, as do Montana, Utah, Nebraska and Maine.  Sadly this clearly illustrates that in these states you’re likely to start off lower and stay there for a greater period of time.

BOTTOM LINE: Again it appears as if the Northeast has the best salary potential, while the Northwest shows the lowest.  The highest average salary comes in by California at over $63,000 while South Dakota is nearly $30,000 LOWER!!!  One important thing to note at this point is the adjustments in Cost of Living.  While you may be making significantly more in New York, it might also be far more expensive for you to live there as well.  These are all things to take stock of when making your choice, which should never be based on figures alone.  These are simply meant to help paint just part of an overall picture for you.

3. COMPARITIVE CAREERS

So here’s where you can see in clear detail the old adage that “teachers are underpaid.”  This graph shows a period of 5 years detailing the differential between teacher salaries versus “comparable professions.”  What are comparable professions you ask?  According to the technical details of the survey, comparable professions were compiled using BLS Occupational Projections and were defined as;

“Comparable occupations are those within the college education cluster, which held a bachelor’s degree as the most significant source of postsecondary education.”

In basic terms, these are professions that require a similar education level and have a similar scope of duties.

BOTTOM LINE: Looking at the graph you can see that the average growth trend in average teacher salaries is nearly identical to that of its professional counter parts.  That being said you can also see that the disparity between the two has remained similar as well, suggesting that teacher salaries has not closed the gap.  Is there hope?  Possibly.  The current administration under President Barack Obama had made a great number of Campaign promises regarding correcting the disparity for teacher compensation.  According to his campaign website he stressed “We will recruit an army of new teachers and develop innovative ways to reward teachers who are doing a great job, and we will reform No Child Left Behind so that we are supporting schools that need improvement, rather than punishing them.” Whether that  was campaign rhetoric or the true and attainable goals of an education reformer remains to be seen.