America runs on teachers. In 2017, there were some 3.6 million full-time teachers in U.S., according to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). 3.2 million of them were public school teachers, serving local communities across the country.
According to the NCES, the average salary for a U.S. public school teacher in the 2016-2017 school year was $58,950, 2% lower than the average salary in the 1990-1991 school year when adjusted for inflation.
Stagnant wages may be the reason why fewer college students have chosen to major in education. But teachers are more necessary than ever. NCES predicts there will be over 50 million students in public schools by 2025.
Few teachers chose education as a career path because it’s lucrative — but there are some states where becoming a new teacher may be more profitable than others.
According to the National Education Association, a national professional organization for teachers, the average starting salary for public school teachers in the 2017-2018 school year was $39,249, but this varied widely by location. In the District of Columbia, new teachers made an average starting salary of $55,209, the highest in the country, while in Montana they made $31,418, the lowest.
Here’s how much new teachers made on average in every state.
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Alabama
Average starting teacher salary: $38,491
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Alaska
Average starting teacher salary: $46,954
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Arizona
Average starting teacher salary: $34,473
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Arkansas
Average starting teacher salary: $33,323
Image Credit: Harrison, Arkansas by Photolitherland (CC BY-SA).
California
Average starting teacher salary: $46,992
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Colorado
Average starting teacher salary: $33,483
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Connecticut
Average starting teacher salary: $45,922
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Delaware
Average starting teacher salary: $41,639
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District of Columbia
Average starting teacher salary: $55,209
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Florida
Average starting teacher salary: $37,636
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Georgia
Average starting teacher salary: $35,474
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Hawaii
Average starting teacher salary: $46,790
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Idaho
Average starting teacher salary: $34,801
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Illinois
Average starting teacher salary: $39,236
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Indiana
Average starting teacher salary: $35,943
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Iowa
Average starting teacher salary: $37,048
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Kansas
Average starting teacher salary: $35,769
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Kentucky
Average starting teacher salary: $36,752
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Louisiana
Average starting teacher salary: $40,303
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Maine
Average starting teacher salary: $34,788
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Maryland
Average starting teacher salary: $45,147
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Massachusetts
Average starting teacher salary: $45,498
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Michigan
Average starting teacher salary: $36,599
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Minnesota
Average starting teacher salary: $38,529
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Mississippi
Average starting teacher salary: $34,784
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Missouri
Average starting teacher salary: $32,226
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Montana
Average starting teacher salary: $31,418
Image Credit: ronniechua/istockphoto.
Nebraska
Average starting teacher salary: $34,465
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Nevada
Average starting teacher salary: $39,054
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New Hampshire
Average starting teacher salary: $37,395
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New Jersey
Average starting teacher salary: $51,443
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New Mexico
Average starting teacher salary: $36,405
Image Credit: Santa Rosa, New Mexico. 2018 by Rodrigo Paredes (CC BY).
New York
Average starting teacher salary: $45,589
Image Credit: FilippoBacci/istockphoto.
North Carolina
Average starting teacher salary: $37,631
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North Dakota
Average starting teacher salary: $38,611
Image Credit: ericfoltz/istockphoto.
Ohio
Average starting teacher salary: $35,923
Image Credit: Ron_Thomas/istockphoto.
Oklahoma
Average starting teacher salary: $32,010
Image Credit: Realtor.
Oregon
Average starting teacher salary: $36,319
Image Credit: Andrea P. Coan.
Pennsylvania
Average starting teacher salary: $44,647
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Rhode Island
Average starting teacher salary: $41,689
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South Carolina
Average starting teacher salary: $33,148
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South Dakota
Average starting teacher salary: $38,098
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Tennessee
Average starting teacher salary: $37,305
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Texas
Average starting teacher salary: $41,481
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Utah
Average starting teacher salary: $38,499
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Vermont
Average starting teacher salary: $38,499
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Virginia
Average starting teacher salary: $40,453
Image Credit: SeanPavonePhoto / iStock.
Washington
Average starting teacher salary: $42,240
Image Credit: Sean Pavone/istockphoto.
West Virginia
Average starting teacher salary: $33,715
Image Credit: Getty.
Wisconsin
Average starting teacher salary: $38,181
Image Credit: RudyBalasko/istockphoto.
Wyoming
Average starting teacher salary: $45,241
While teachers have a tough salary to budget on, there are a host of freebies available to them. Here are 50.
This article originally appeared on Policygenius and was syndicated by MediaFeed.org.
Image Credit: Pixabay.com.
