How To Compare Teacher Salaries By State

Teaching, while a noble profession, is hardly a high-paying career.  It is no surprise that teaching is one of the jobs with the highest turnover rate.  Many educators even switch careers due to higher salaries in another field.  When you are looking for a teaching job, you may want to use salary as a deciding factor.  Here is how you can compare teacher salaries by state.

1. Find the average salary for the state of your choice.  There are many resources on the internet that have lists of states in order of teacher pay.  Some reports you may find are older, so you need to make sure you are looking at the most up-to-date data.  The sidebar of this article has some sites that will have those lists.

2. See if the website has a list of starting teacher salaries.  Most compiled data is for the average salary of all teachers in the state.  It does not mean this is the starting salary if you are a new teacher.  The average includes first-year teachers all the way up to multi-year veterans.  It may be important to try to find the average salary that is at the same level of experience as you are.  Often, you can find the state minimum mandated salary on that state's Board of Education website to give you an indication of the bare minimum for that state.
3. Remember the lists include ALL schools in the state.  School districts set their own salaries, so be aware that a school you choose may or may not have the same starting salaries.  Some inner city schools may pay more to try to recruit teachers and keep them in their schools, or they may not have the budget to offer as much as an affluent suburban school.  The general rule is the bigger the school district, the higher the salaries--but this is not always true.  Contact the school district administration or check out their website for salaries in particular schools.

Chances are you are not a teacher for the money.  There is much more to consider than salary when choosing a state to live.  Of course, without the financial means, it is hard to live anywhere.