Average Teacher Salary by State
According to the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), the average teacher salary for the entire country was $47,602 for the school year ending in 2005. That figure represents an increase of only 2.2% from the previous year. Think about how much fun those long summer vacations would be if the cost of gasoline rose at a rate of only 2.2% per year.
Everybody knows teachers do a great job and should be making a lot more money than $47,602 a year but that figure is still above the national average for all professions. Regardless, the AFT says teachers need a raise of at least 30% by the year 2010. That desired raise translates to an additional $15 billion per year for educational expenses.
That’s all about a national average, though. Teachers are licensed by individual states and the average teacher salary by state varies a great deal.
When comparing average teacher salary by state, California comes out on top, where there are more teachers (313,330) than any other state and they’re the best paid, too, earning an average of $55,693 at the close of school in 2003.
According to average teacher salary by state standards, falling in line behind California are Michigan ($54,020), Connecticut ($53,972), New Jersey ($53,872), and the District of Columbia ($53,194).
Where is the lowest teacher salary by state? That would be South Dakota, where there are only 8,783 schoolteachers earning an average of $32,414 in 2003.
The other four states making up the lowest average teacher salary by state are Oklahoma ($33,277), North Dakota ($33,869), Mississippi ($35,135), and Montana ($35,754).
The teaching profession is experiencing a great deal of change lately and a scarcity of school teachers is predicted in the years to come as many of today’s schoolteachers retire. There just aren’t enough people graduating from college with teacher’s certifications to fill the need.
Anyone considering becoming a schoolteacher will surely find many job opportunities and steady employment. Many fledgling teachers will know where they want to work, exactly, but if location is flexible, it might be wise to explore in depth the average teacher salary by state and compare it to the cost of living in these states.
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