Teacher Salaries Barely Make the Grade
by Christopher Gearon
Teacher salaries grew just 2.7 percent during the 2001-2002 school year, according to the latest figures from the National Education Association. The nation's struggling economy, in comparison, grew at a higher rate.
The average salary of a U.S. public school teacher for the 2001-2002 school year totaled $44,499, with 36 states falling below the average. California boasted the highest average teacher salary, $53,870. Connecticut and New York claimed second and third place, respectively, and the only other states paying teachers more than $53,000 a year.
Teachers in South Dakota, meanwhile, were the worst paid in the nation, living off $31,295. North Dakota teachers were paid slightly more, $31,709, and Mississippi rounded out the bottom three slots by paying teachers $32,800 on average.
Wyoming teachers saw the biggest pay increase last year—9.1 percent—pushing their annual wages to $37,841.
The only teachers in the nation to receive a pay cut work in our nation's capital. The District of Columbia took a 3.4 percent bite out of teacher salaries, leaving them with $47,049 a year.
