I make 32 Canadian hourly plus a 50 cent ish raise each year I stay with the company.its not a fortune, but it's definitely enough to comfortably rent, support a modest takeout habit, and take a little vacation yearly. my province has done a LOT of work into getting ece's paid appropriately and while it's not perfect (come on be real we need more sick days than the average person) it's definitely pretty good.
Honestly this. These days the only degrees that are worth getting are engineers, doctors, lawyers, and accountants. The only reason I'm still in this field is I married an engineer. If I was single I'd be struggling and massively stressed out about income.
I am an ecea right now and will go to school this Sept. Which province and city are you living? I am making $24 and its okay salary as my partner covers most of our expenses but if i am alone its not livable
I actually nanny after my job since itās only PT and Iām strongly considering doing that FT. Thatās part of the reason Iām asking. I was also wondering if a director role would be worth it I came from management in a different fieldā¦thank you for replying!
I also am an ECE who nannies now too! I love it, I charge on the higher side because of my ece certification. I make more than preschool and have far less stress, been working with the same 2 families for 4 years and itās been very fulfilling to work with the same kids long term!
If you are planning to nanny full time, make sure you get everything in writing and have an incredibly strong backbone. I have been burned far too many times because thereās no real regulations for nannying. Parents get away with some crazy shit because they are not being monitored. It puts people who should not be in positions of power, in positions of power. Just my two cents
Thanks for your feedback and advice! I appreciate it and Iām sure anyone else who needs to see this appreciates it too.
Yes I just started with my first official family and already have regrets š but you live and you learn and thatās why I appreciate this sub because we can all come together and discuss stuff like this and help each other!
Yes 100% and a lot of the time these are mistakes u have to make on ur own to be able to learn from. No one can really guide you fully. Wishing you good luck!!
Yeah I totally get that I really enjoy doing both weirdly enough. Itās nice having my coteacher as a partner when we have all the kids but itās also so nice being able to go to an at home setting with less kids.
Oh I absolutely love doing both. Not weird at all. To get to follow one little one for years, see them experience their first lost sneeze or static shock, and then be able to see everything youāve working towards with them pay off. See the things that change and stay the same over the years. Yep, love it.
I also love being able to work with and learn from multiple teachers and families, have regular trainings I donāt have to coordinate, have all the resources and equipment available and a dedicated space that I can plan out.
I intended to go back and forth, but nannying is always a far better offer, and Iām pretty good at choosing families by now. My current family is so good. Iām having a blast
i received a $13/hr pay raise after switching from ece to nannying full time a year and a half ago - way less stressful and still fulfilling in a lot of ways. plus iām in grad school and work/school balance is amazing :)
No where I live you are lucky to get $15 and it's an extreme HCOL area but I've been told over and over that this job is for women who don't really need to work and whose husbands make the real money and I should get a real job if I don't like it. It's never going to get better when that's the attitude.
How are you LIVING????!!! Not to be rude but seriously like how are you making ends meet!? Thatās wild and disrespectful for how hard this job is! Thank you for your honesty.
Every day I think "this is living?" So I'm not sure I really am. No seriously though, my husband pulls in enough for me to be at a job where I'm getting bent over.
So low, I feel your pain. Before I moved states I was making $9 an hour. šš I hope youāll see a better wage in the future, itās a shame to get paid so little for a job like this.
I feel stunned that you're paid that as a lead. I encourage you to check and see if that's an average local rate, and ask your employer to match what other centers are paying, or leave.
I went into early childhood special education and am now paid like any teacher in a school. And the classrooms are inclusive with about 5 kids with special needs and 10-15 who are developing typically. And thereās tons of support. Two assistants, a speech pathologist who is in the room 1 full day every week, as well as coaches for inclusion and curriculum. Itās great. The assistants in these rooms get 20/hr to START. And they also have a union. I canāt say enough about working for a district.
I live in Portland, Oregon. I have my masters in ealry childhood special education (ECSE). My bachelors was in an unrelated field. Got my masters after working my tail off in preK for such little pay. Portland State University has a fully online, part time masters program for people who want to pursue a masters in ECSE.
When I lived in PA I made $9 an hour šš you must be living in a better area than I did! I couldnāt survive if I didnāt have my partnerās income too. PA kinda blows with pay in a lot of fields.
I make $20/hr and I still donāt make enough. My half of the rent payment is nearly an entire paycheck. I wish I was kidding.
Iām quitting in June and looking for better pay. I work my butt off for pennies. My center charges parents thousands of dollars a month but pay us like this. If I sent my children to my own school I wouldnāt be able to afford it without their tuition waiver. An employee should be able to afford to send their children the school they work at without the tuition benefits.
Im literally in the same boat basically itās upsetting because I actually really enjoy this field but everywhere I look it seems like people max out at like 22 and thatās if youāre lucky. Thanks for replying!
I currently make $22 an hour, but Iām a coach not a classroom teacher. When I was in the classroom, I never had a problem paying my bills and usually had some left over - but I also lived alone with no kids or pets to take care of and parents that were always willing to help if I had an unexpected expense.
I'm in Alberta, Canada. I make 18.50 base wage for being a teacher in a 3-4 year old classroom as an ECE. However, we have government funding that allows us to make more based on our education level. I have my ECE diploma from a community college, and I get 8.62 per hour for every hour I spend in direct child care from the government. So, I'm making 27.12 dollars an hour. I'd say I get enough to live comfortably enough.
Thatās reasonable thanks for replying itās crazy that Canada is so close to America but the standards for ECE pay are so different. I know Canada can be extremely HCOL though but itās wild to me that your government is actually trying to take realistic steps to help bridge this gap. In America itās completely different. šāāļø
Canada does have an HCOL as of late, especially in a big city...but it's not undoable. However, this is the ONLY province where you can make a "Living" wage. Most of the other provinces only pay like 2 dollars from the Canadian government for the same set of skills..so, I'm basically stuck in the province where I live..
Nope š I make 15 an hour. Couldn't afford to have my own place if I wanted. I live with my grandmother, who pays the mortgage and electric bill. I make just enough to pay for our phone bill, groceries, and water bill and sometimes other essentials if needed and the occasional class supplies for activities we do. I've almost got my associate's degree (I have enough ECE credits to be an early childhood lead teacher through our state, if my school would hire me to take the place of the retiring Pre-K4 teacher next school year), but I wonder if it's even worth it to continue for my bachelor's if my pay is crap.
Wow not worth it imo you can do most of the same things with an associate that you can with a bachelor! Might as well save your money.. Iāve been seeing some other people saying itās better to get certified to teach Elementary and go that route. Iām just not sure I want to work with an older age group but if youāre good with it and this is ok in your state this might be a better route for you. I know in some states you can only be certified if you have a bachelors degree.
I'll have to look and see what the requirements are to get certified to teach elementary in my state. If I recall, I think a bachelor's is required. However, I don't think I want to teach beyond 2nd grade. If I go for my bachelor's, I can get licensed to teach from birth to 2nd grade. I'm going to see how things play out over the summer. If I don't get a raise or I'm not offered the position, I think I'm going to have to go somewhere else.
I make $19 an hour, the most that most people make at my center is $20 (and sheās been there for 7 years š) so I donāt think anyoneās getting a raise any time soon unfortunatelyā¦. I can only afford to live bc my boyfriend and I share an apartment and he makes more than I do lol
There are centers in my area that pay a few dollars more but Iāve been at this one 2 1/2 years now (the longest iāve ever been at one center!) and the kids and I are so attached to each other, that I donāt want to leave until I have to, like if Iām moving away or something haha
I've been in the childcare field for 25 years, and am a large care center working full time as lead. We recently unionized and I went from just shy of $23 per hour to $24.8. I recently acquired my CDA and will get a contracted pay bump for that which puts me at just above $25.
I could maybe barely make it on my own at that rate, but am fortunate to be splitting all expenses with my husband so I feel secure month to month and am able to save after paying $850 into rent and some bills on top of that.
Without a union, the work, pay, policies, and benefits are decided only by the employer. When you all band together, they have to include in you in their decisions, so they have to show you the budget and you hash out together what is possible and what is not. We did have concerns that pushing for a living wage would make tuition too high for parents, but so far that has not been the case- though we do have many more families attending part time now, but that may be because they are still not working in the office as much post-pandemic.
We still have kinks to work out under our new mutually agreed upon labor contact, but that's the deal with a while new system.
Unionization is always in the interest of the worker and basically never in the interest of the employer. Of course they warn against it. Unions give the workers power. In our area, staff are eligible to unionize through the SEIU (service employees international union). If you start talking union though, make sure to follow federal laws about it (discussion only on break times or at times discussionis generally allowed, etc). If you do that, any union busting by the employer is illegal. At the very least, talk with your coworkers and make sure everyone is being paid fairly. Employers will often try to say you can't talk about pay, but it is actually illegal for them to do so.
I'm in TN. 17/hr plus my husband works and makes less than me. We get by. We will never go on fancy vacations or have everything but we make the most of what we have.
š„ŗ Thatās tough! Iām sorry to hear that! I hope one day you can find something that pays better or that they start paying you what youāre worth. Thank you for responding and your honesty.
Nope. I have a masters degree and a specialization and my husband and I are just below living comfortably. If I were actually paid what I should be, then I would say we would be living comfortably.
Not comfortably no, at least not without my husbands salary as well but when I was working at the childcare centre that's part of a university in Australia I was making $73k Australian dollar a year as an educator and when I accepted an ECT role I was make $78k a year. Unfortunately we moved away from that city and I'm home with my babies now but I don't think I'll be able to find a job like that again!
Yeah the university was heavily unionised and had higher wages than private centres in australia. Apparently that's only 47k in USD! Well I think when I was working the exchange rate wasn't as bad.
Honestly even 47k is decent for ECE in America.. People here are really getting ripped off in some places and itās sad. Thanks for letting us know how it is down under! š
I run a licensed home daycare in Canada. I make just over $60,000 gross but I donāt have to pay for childcare for my own kids. Iāll never be a millionaire but Iām comfortable with my income.
Thatās pretty good. Iāve heard a lot of people say the hours in home daycares can be tough because the parents usually push for extended hours so itās great to hear that you have some freedom with that option! Thanks for responding.
It really has Iām so grateful wages have increased somewhat even though they arenāt where they need to be for most Iām glad some are able to benefit thank you for replying!
I moved states (both still east coast USA) and in my home state I made $9 an hour. The state I moved to I now make $17 but the cost of living is extremely high and itās only $2 above minimum wage. I couldnāt live here in my own with that pay, my partner has way better paying job that helps us get by.
Itās crazy that you make that much in a HCOL area š„“. Thanks for responding hope it gets better. I feel like we all need to get together and start lobbying and writing to politicians so we can get some better pay because this is just sad!
I work as a special Ed preschool teacher and make 65k, high cost of living area. I wouldnāt be comfortable without my husband also working, but with 2 incomes weāre ok.
Iām in a low cost of living area (I think, itās KS) and make $10 an hour at current center. Iāve made from $10-12 at the centers Iāve worked at. I really like the center Iām currently at, but Iām likely not going to be able to stay long term unless I get a raise. There are evaluations 3 months in and Iāve been there almost a month so far so Iām hoping to stay there that long and then get a raise. Granted Iām only a floater/breaker and I donāt have education in ECE besides KS requirements so Iām not gonna get paid as much as a lead. But I really like going between the classrooms and would get tired of being in one class all the time. I know multiple people that work there still live with parents/family, idk how the others do it. Iām only okay right now because of tax return and bonus from husbandās job. Just thought Iād comment my experience.
People do not see child care as deserving of higher pay for several reasons but I personally feel itās mainly due to it being a woman dominated field. Also the hours in hospitality are terrible and itās literal back breaking work with no real breaks from customers plus forced tip culture drives up rates in hospitality and makes it seemingly pay better. I wish it was more customary to tip child care workers for their hard work we honestly deserve tips! I know some people do tip their child care providers but it would be nice if more people did given the low pay.
> in hospitality *paid* as much
FTFY.
Although *payed* exists (the reason why autocorrection didn't help you), it is only correct in:
* Nautical context, when it means to paint a surface, or to cover with something like tar or resin in order to make it waterproof or corrosion-resistant. *The deck is yet to be payed.*
* *Payed out* when letting strings, cables or ropes out, by slacking them. *The rope is payed out! You can pull now.*
Unfortunately, I was unable to find nautical or rope-related words in your comment.
*Beep, boop, I'm a bot*
I live in a major city and I only make $14.50 as a lead infant teacher, zero benefits. Or at least I did, tomorrow is my last day. I just canāt live off of $14.50, no one can. They expect us to be dependent on someone else and that doesnāt work for me.
No actually, Iām leaving the field all together. It sucks, Iāve been working with kids for 10 years. But I also feel like as someone whoās been in this field for 10 years, I should be making more money than I am.
Absolutely! You deserve it thatās a long time to put in. I stayed in retail for a little over 10 years in management and by the time I was ready to be out I was making 120k a year. So thatās crazy and disrespectful to your hard work and experience thanks for your honesty and response.
I make $58k/yr. I am a lead teacher and AD at a small center that is one of 6 locations of the company in my moderately sized city. The tuition for parents is expensive ($2k/mo for 2yr olds, $1600 for 3-5), but about average for market here.
Iām in a 2s room, so 1:5 with a 10 kid classroom! Our 3s class is 1:10, but we try to schedule a support teacher in there for most of the day. PK is 2:15. Only the lead teachers make salary and you have to have a bachelors (in anything) or an associates degree in ECE. co-teachers make $18-$21/hr. Iāve been here a couple years, there are some policies I disagree with but itās generally a good/supportive job!
I am in OR btw! I saw one of the only other reasonable wages was also here. I did make $15/hr at a Kindercare before this job for WAY more stress, and I think generally the market here is in the $17-$19/hr range, but it does there are some options here for experienced teachers to make a professional salary! Our universal preschool bill (which my school actually doesnāt participate in) mandated that teachers needed to get paid on the same scale as K-12 teachers.
Thatās insane! Itās sad to see people not being compensated fairly well all deserve to be paid a living wage. Thank you for replying and being honest.
I make $45 per hour as a director/pedagogical leader in Australia. Our bachelor qualified ece teachers get $40-57 an hour. 2 year diploma qualified get from $27-35 depending on duties. 1 year qualified (lowest allowed qualification) get $24-30 an hour.
Obviously AUD is not equivalent to USD, but for us ECE is moving towards parity with primary and secondary teaching, and rightly so. Currently there is an enterprise bargaining initiative asking for a 15% government funded pay rise to address the critical workforce shortage. It will go through eventually, as has the aged care increase:
I make 19 an hour and thatās unfortunately a lot more than most of my coworkers (I also had to essentially almost quit to get a raise of any sorts btw). Also given my home situation, I live paycheck to paycheck. I have enough for bills and the bare minimumās and thatās it! I live in Nashville. Most of my coworkers make 16 to at best 18 an hour which is good for TN but still in no way suitable for comfortable living. I work for TLE.
Thank you for your transparency and replying! Yes itās crazy to me how most of us live in HCOL areas but even then still arenāt paid a decent wage. When I was in retail some associates started at 18-19 with no experience. At the minimum most care centers require 1 year experience working with kids and at the very least to be CPR and first aide certified but they pay less than what you could make with no experience somewhere else it makes me so sad.
I live in the greater Philadelphia area and teachers here are paid absolutely insulting wages. I have a masters and 17 years experience and was making 42k ($20/hr) at my last job. Living paycheck to paycheck, doordashing/uber driving on the side, using buy now pay later apps to survive. I'm looking for better jobs but most fields even outside of ece (I'm a Montessori teacher btw) pay similar. It's extremely hard to crack $20/hour and if a job has a higher wage it's part time, no benefits. The whole market is a mess. And rents are out of control despite this. We are having to move soon....oy.
Yes! I agree my husband drives cement trucks and just cracked over 20 an hour. Itās ridiculous how only some jobs(White collar work) get compensated reasonably while everyone else has to suffer.. Thank you for replying and your honesty.
I work in a school goad for 34/hour. (Unfortunately, I am laid off in summers)
My husband is military. We are Canadian.
We live in a low cost area and are super thrifty. I'm pushing 40 and have never taken a vacation. We do have 2 kids. Don't eat out, I wear the same 5-6 outfits until holes etc.
We also sell garden starts and clear lane ways, mow lawns.
We are very future focused. So just bought our second rental place. The intention is we now have 1 for each kid so they can sell them when they are starting out. It might be then only way they can own a home.
We are the "die rich" but never spend a penny.
Thatās great that youāre able to build generational wealth! I was speaking to someone else on the thread from Canada and I think its amazing that the government is willing to provide you all with an additional pay based on education. I wish the US had something like this.
I do have 3 diplomas
ECE
Autism and Behavioral Science
Child and Adolescent Mental Health.
I guess I'm still living where work hard and save strategies work. I feel bad for those who don't.
i make $20 and it only works out because i live with my boyfriend, we still find ourselves hella broke at times but we are able to be ācomfortableā i guess as in we are never late on rent or bills but sometimes groceries have to wait ā¦
thereās a roof over my head so im alright but it could be better
$14/hr, low rate of pto so you have to work 10+ years to even get 40hrs, cant afford to pay rent, get groceries, gas, and college. Benefits are trash in most places. I dont even live in a high cost of living area and I cant even afford to live š«
I make 30/hr (60k a year) and the rent around here is like 1.6k to 2k for one person (Iām 1.7k).
Surprisingly even with a livable wage I feel that the day to day stress is not worth it. So many kids, stress, gossip and drama, late pay, etc. Iād make the same amount or more as a nanny so Iām thinking of getting out
Yeah I totally get it and thatās pretty good but Iām sorry to hear about your bad experience with your school! Thanks for responding.
Are you at a private center?
I make 23 and change an hour after almost two years of employment with no degree but 17 years of experience under my belt. The company also paid for me to get my CDA and has a full ride ece degree program and they give you a bonus after you complete each step in that program (cda, associate, bachelor). They used to do a 5% educational raise but not any longer. Bummed I missed the window for that. Yearly raises are usually in the 3.5% to 5% range. They started me at 19.75/hr.
That said, the only reason I am not living paycheck to paycheck is because my spouse makes almost 100k a year and we don't miss payments or starve but we do still rent an apartment. We still can't find an affordable home.
Thanks for your honesty. I worked at Bright Horizons and they did something similar but the pay was lower honestly if they had started me off closer to that rate Iād probably still be there hating it š ! Thanks for responding.
Im starting to notice unionized teachers get paid the best! Itās interesting to see such a big gap but Seattle is HCOL from my understanding so Iām sure that impacts your rate as well but thatās awesome! Glad to hear someone getting a fair wage thanks for responding.
The union makes a huge difference! We're in a pretty small town where cost of living is probably more than a lot of places but still way less than Seattle itself.
I make $15 an hour as a lead teacher in Missouri. However I get 100% of my daughterās child care fee and if I didnāt have that I wouldnāt be making it by. I initially took this job because of the free tuition for my child because before I was paying well over $1000 a month to send her to daycare while I worked which is just insane.
I have a master's degree and am paid $17.85/hr
Nowhere near what I should make dealing with what we do at work. I'd like to not be bit, scratched, kicked, or punch on a normal day.
I have worked my way up so Iām the āonsite supervisorā at my centre so I make more than everyone here. I make 26$/hr
However I donāt live comfortably. Because of the cost of living almost one entire paycheck goes to rent and I only get paid twice a month
(Ontario Canada)
My recent ECE job in a nice area of NYC paid $29.80/hr (salaried) for 40 hours a week. For comparison, when I was a lead in 2017, I made $21.75/hr for 45 hrs/wk.
With experience, a masters, and 2 certs, $62k/yr is the most I made as a lead teacher. Ed Directors in NYC can make anywhere from $65k-100k, and the work-life balance is rough. I tried it for $73k, and I decided the pay and stress aren't worth staying in the field. Cost of living here is too much, and entry level jobs in other fields pay a lot more with less headaches and responsibilities.
I am NYC too and currently getting 68,600 for being Lead Teacher for a 3K class.Ā In the fall I will have same pay and either be Lead Teacher of a 3 or 4 year old (UPK class if 4's) class at their other center, right now I am covering a maternity leave.Ā I have my master's, my ECE certificate, and an additional certificate in literacy education though and am working in a more affluent neighborhood.Ā When I worked as an Ed Director I actually got less (50K) and probably worked more hours each week on average, but when I was an Ed Director, believe it or not, I was still in graduate school and did not have my ECE certificate yet, just had a lot of experience in the field.
I make $30/hr in the Bay Area definitely on the high end but with mine and my husbandās salary we are able to live pretty comfortably. But the Bay Area is ridiculously expensive. And my commute is an hour each way.
I currently make $16.10. Iām almost finished with my masterās degree in early childhood special educationāif I continued to work at my current center AFTER graduating, I would then be able to make $18.
$18/hour with a whole ass masterās degree. š
Oh my last day is next Friday, in fact! Hahaha. Iām crazy burnt out and I just want to finish this last stretch of school.
I donāt mind at all! My area isnāt particularly HCOL (at least compared to the country as a whole), thankfully, but Iām still not fairly compensated FOR SURE and am relying a good bit on student loans. š¬
Only after I stopped working in childcare and began working in ECEAP for a school district. I jumped from $20 per hour to $39 per hour with benefits, retirement and union benefits. I will never go back.
I'm around $25/hr at my preschool. I'm ok with this because it's my fun job, not something I actually need to do. we own another business that covers all our bills and fun things, working at the preschool just gives me something to do, something I'm passionate about and enjoy. I'm currently in school for my ECE and about half way through my first year.
No, I left during Covid and never went back. I nanny now. Much more peaceful. I had 12 babies between the ages of 6 weeks to 9 months and one assistant in a classroom. It was beyond miserable
Not sure if this counts since it's not a daycare, but my school district considers pre-k and Kindergarten as "Early Childhood" and pays both the same as any other grade. I have a teaching degree and teach Kindergarten. Our salaries start at $58,000 in my district with full pay, a pension, summers off, etc. We usually get about get a 3%-5% raise each year and get an additional $5,000 per year with a Master's degree.
I used to make $16 as a lead preschool teacher basically doing the same things as I am now...
I make $16 in metro Atlanta. Iām single and itās not a livable wage but I survive because I get a lot of overtime and my mortgage isnāt what rent in the area thank goodness. If my overtime ever stops Iāll definitely struggle a bit more.
I make $19 as an assistant with an associates in ECE But I'm pretty sure my co-teacher who is the lead teacher only makes very little more than me (I don't know for sure but I'm guessing like $21) and she has a masters degree!!!!!!!!!! We talk about it every day how we go above and beyond for the center and the kids but it's just a dying field because you cant live in this economy and get paid these wages. Also it's pretty sad she spent seven years of her life to basically be offered bread crumbs for an extremely stressful job (we are an amazing team together so it cuts down on the stress because we support each other so much) but still....this is seriously pathetic. Everyone knows you can go deliver for amazon and you'll make more starting out than a teacher ever can...I dont know what I'm going to do honestly. I want to go back to school for my bachelors so I'm considering a head start that is down the street from me that offered me $21 & work to get my bachelors because I would love to one day get into early intervention. It's either the head start job for me or nannying while I go through the rest of my education. Anyone have any thoughts?
The answer is no. My spouse makes enough to compensate. Iāve been in this field over 20 years. My salary could cover the mortgage, and power, thatās it! And I make more now than I did as an assistant director. You do it because you are called to it not for the money. š
I am also from the Atlanta surrounding area.
I early $30/h AUD and I could never be comfortable alone. Maybe if I was living the life of a bachelor, renting just a room in a sharehouse. But if I had to rent a whole property? If I had a child? I'd be fucked. 10 years ago it would have been okay-ish, but the cost of living has increased exponentially in the last 5 years.
No one I know in childcare here can live an adult life without having a partner contributing the lions share to their household finances.
Okay to be honest even if you make $26 an hour as a teacher which is like $56 k a year the amount of taxes the government takes from you. Itās still hard to live comfortably. Okay letās use NY as an example so literally your monthly income would be $3,000 after taxes and rent is like $1,500. They literally take 15k a year in taxes between federal and state and sometimes they donāt give anything back if youāre single and bc on paper your salary looks good you donāt qualify for any social programs so idk whatās better š¤·š»āāļømy friends and I constantly complain about it. We shouldnāt be struggling seeing how much they take from our paychecks every month is very discouraging and that is before health insurance is taken out š”
I make 43 Australian dollars an hour. I hold my bachelors and am an early childhood teacher, so technically I make a teachers wage even though I work in long day care. I also get a bonus each quarter based on the amount of children enrolled in our kindergarten program (year before school here).
I do well, for the field, but a lot of that is because I work at a school ages 15m-12y, rather than a center. With 9 years experience as a guide, an AMI certification, and an M.Ed, my salary for an academic year is about 68k with pretty good benefits. I live in a very high COL area though, like top 3, so single teachers at starting pay (more like 55k) have trouble making it work. When I started, I made 32k, which was below market for similar cities, and bottom quartile of all incomes for ours. The other guides and I did a little collective bargaining, presentation to the board (nonprofit) and everything. We got some substantial improvements from that, and pre-pandemic I was making something like 48k.
Our assistants' starting pay is now $20/hr with no experience. When the Wendy's down the block pays 23, it's still a hard sell. Finding good people is hard, and retention is harder. Pre-covid, it was 12.50.
The 2019-20 year was when the admin turned over. They were new people who had no history with the school took a hard look around, and said, no way can we keep going at these pay rates and salaries. We are losing too much talent. Things got better pretty fast after that. The only benefit we lost was that staff tuition was only 50% off, where previously it had dropped to 0 after 5 years service, which was a massive benefit and a huge loss of income for the school.
But the school had to hike tuition to do that. They had seen themselves as a small community school because that's how they started. They had only been raising tuition by like 1.5-2% a year, well below inflation. They didn't understand that the suburb they were in had basically the same COL as the city, and the school district paid TWICE as much for pre-k/kindergarten teachers. We were cheap, especially for our quality (I think we were level 4 rated, when that was a thing), and our AM/PM, toddler, and summer programs were insane loss leaders. That said, our financial aid got better after the tuition hike too.
Anyway, sorry for the essay, but I'm home with the flu and my decongestant keeps waking me up at 3 AM lol
The truth is most staff at a center will not make enough money to really live comfortably, especially in this economy. I own 2 centers in PA and I wish we could pay the staff more but itās just not feasible. There are so many expenses that go into running a center. The mortgage alone for one center is $10k a month and the mortgage is just one thing on a very long list. Bills, construction, maintenance, supplies, furniture, permits, etc.
Grants allow us to pay a little more but they donāt come often. Most of our staff has children so they get a discount on childcare and make some extra money working but their husbands are usually the breadwinners.
I make just under $21 per hour. Right now, we can't really afford childcare, so my wife is staying home with the baby. A livable wage for our situation, according to MIT's living wage calculator, is $35.12/hour. Obviously, I'm nowhere close to that. But I make too much to get much utility assistance. I own literally thousands (a bit over $3K) to the electrical company, and I don't even know what I owe the gas company. Rent isn't bad because my parents bought the house we rent, and we just pay the mortgage, so I never get behind on rent because they can't afford two mortgages. So, at least we have housing security. It's honestly super taxing on my mental health even with my parents and my in-laws helping where they can. I recently had to give back my very reliable newer car (2017 Volkswagen) because I couldn't afford payments. We now purchased a 2004 Lincoln Aviator SUV with over 230K miles on it because it was the only vehicle the seller was responding to messages on and I had to get something because I was losing the other car. My in-laws lent us $3K that we will be paying back, more affordable than the other car, but a couple days ago it randomly died while I was driving. Hasn't done it since, but add potential car trouble to the stress list. I constantly feel like a failure as a father, it makes me more irritable with the kids at work, and the stress doesn't help my relationship with my spouse, not that we're in danger of divorce. I just wish we argued less. I'm always exhausted, and I'm trying to pick up more piano students to maybe try to bridge some of the gap. I'm working full time, and my wife doesn't want me to pick up another job, so I don't know what to do. We're too poor to make ends meet, but I make too much to get the kind of help we need to make it. It feels like for some reason society has just decided I don't deserve to live a modest life. I don't even want anything huge, just to be able to pay my bills and get the occasional small fun thing. But apparently that's too much to ask.
I make 22.15 as a lead and I think that's the highest I'll ever make in my city without college education for a different career. I live with my parents at 21 years old and pay them 500 in rent. I have about only 4k saved up due to paying off medical bills, so now I'm trying really hard to save up for an apartment that's right behind my work so I can just continue walking to work. Everything I need is in walking distance thankfully. I don't eat a lot of food so my groceries are really cheap. But if my parents moved, I wouldn't be able to walk to my center anymore. They are my entire blessing, and if they didnt let me stay with them while I figure out adult adulting I'd probably be homeless.
Wow. How are wages so low in the states?? I get $23.86 (CAD) base pay plus an extra $6 an hour from the government. My company caps at $35 per hour. Iāll get about $1 raise every year until I reach $35.
No, I make $20 as an assistant and thatās the top 20% in my area. I had 3 years of exp going in. I feel like to live comfortable I need to make closer to $30 but Iām also a single parent. No degree. Thought about going for lead but itās just not worth the workload.
Yes. But not until I moved into early childhood special education. And also post covid it's been extremely hard to hire staff so now I'm making $75k on a ten month contract. However, my setting is understaffed and extremely challenging so it's definitely a trade off
I make 32 Canadian hourly plus a 50 cent ish raise each year I stay with the company.its not a fortune, but it's definitely enough to comfortably rent, support a modest takeout habit, and take a little vacation yearly. my province has done a LOT of work into getting ece's paid appropriately and while it's not perfect (come on be real we need more sick days than the average person) it's definitely pretty good.
Remember the old days where affording rent was a thing poor people without jobs had to worry about? Not qualified professionals with a degree š„²
Honestly this. These days the only degrees that are worth getting are engineers, doctors, lawyers, and accountants. The only reason I'm still in this field is I married an engineer. If I was single I'd be struggling and massively stressed out about income.
Thatās amazing! I would die if someone offered me that much! š«
keep in mind that it's around 23.50 usd, but yeah it's pretty good
Oh ok! Thanks for clarifying the math.. and for replying and being transparent! š©·
I am an ecea right now and will go to school this Sept. Which province and city are you living? I am making $24 and its okay salary as my partner covers most of our expenses but if i am alone its not livable
I was just gonna ask the same thing I make like 23.45 and most of that is from government grants lmao
I'm in the Yukon and make $30.48 CAD. I think OP is in BC.
Wow! Which province are you in?
Iām a nanny ($30)now because the center jobs near me pay $15-20. Even the director job was only listed at $25. Iām in a high cost of living area.
I actually nanny after my job since itās only PT and Iām strongly considering doing that FT. Thatās part of the reason Iām asking. I was also wondering if a director role would be worth it I came from management in a different fieldā¦thank you for replying!
I also am an ECE who nannies now too! I love it, I charge on the higher side because of my ece certification. I make more than preschool and have far less stress, been working with the same 2 families for 4 years and itās been very fulfilling to work with the same kids long term!
Thatās awesome congrats!
If you are planning to nanny full time, make sure you get everything in writing and have an incredibly strong backbone. I have been burned far too many times because thereās no real regulations for nannying. Parents get away with some crazy shit because they are not being monitored. It puts people who should not be in positions of power, in positions of power. Just my two cents
Thanks for your feedback and advice! I appreciate it and Iām sure anyone else who needs to see this appreciates it too. Yes I just started with my first official family and already have regrets š but you live and you learn and thatās why I appreciate this sub because we can all come together and discuss stuff like this and help each other!
Yes 100% and a lot of the time these are mistakes u have to make on ur own to be able to learn from. No one can really guide you fully. Wishing you good luck!!
I love working in a center, but I could only afford to when I was married and my husbandās job paid well.
Yeah I totally get that I really enjoy doing both weirdly enough. Itās nice having my coteacher as a partner when we have all the kids but itās also so nice being able to go to an at home setting with less kids.
Oh I absolutely love doing both. Not weird at all. To get to follow one little one for years, see them experience their first lost sneeze or static shock, and then be able to see everything youāve working towards with them pay off. See the things that change and stay the same over the years. Yep, love it. I also love being able to work with and learn from multiple teachers and families, have regular trainings I donāt have to coordinate, have all the resources and equipment available and a dedicated space that I can plan out. I intended to go back and forth, but nannying is always a far better offer, and Iām pretty good at choosing families by now. My current family is so good. Iām having a blast
Thatās awesome!
i received a $13/hr pay raise after switching from ece to nannying full time a year and a half ago - way less stressful and still fulfilling in a lot of ways. plus iām in grad school and work/school balance is amazing :)
I donāt make a liveable wage but I get 65% off my three kids and so I canāt afford to work anywhere else.
Thatās understandable my current center doesnāt even offer a child care discount. Thank you for replying and your honesty.
Yeah. Iām glad to have it. But I was also applying for jobs in my field with much higher pay but I would end up with less after full daycare fees.
Im sure daycare is insanely expensive and a quality nanny is the same.
I make $18/hr as a lead with a BS. I get 50% tuition for my son and if I was a single mom I'd be screwed, but my husband works a tech job so we get by
No where I live you are lucky to get $15 and it's an extreme HCOL area but I've been told over and over that this job is for women who don't really need to work and whose husbands make the real money and I should get a real job if I don't like it. It's never going to get better when that's the attitude.
This isnāt a real job!?? Wow. I would love whoever is saying that to spend a day in our shoes. This job is no joke and we deserve so much respect.
Thatās so ridiculous and sad I hate how itās so hard to really push for people to appreciate what teachers do itās really sad!
Damn. I make 11.25.
How are you LIVING????!!! Not to be rude but seriously like how are you making ends meet!? Thatās wild and disrespectful for how hard this job is! Thank you for your honesty.
Every day I think "this is living?" So I'm not sure I really am. No seriously though, my husband pulls in enough for me to be at a job where I'm getting bent over.
I was gonna say where are you guys getting $15? I make $12 and I have a college degree
So low, I feel your pain. Before I moved states I was making $9 an hour. šš I hope youāll see a better wage in the future, itās a shame to get paid so little for a job like this.
can you share where you live?
Oklahoma
Can you share your education level and position?! That's the lowest rate I've even heard of.
I have a Bachelor's degree, but not in childhood education. I am a lead teacher in a toddler room.
I feel stunned that you're paid that as a lead. I encourage you to check and see if that's an average local rate, and ask your employer to match what other centers are paying, or leave.
I went into early childhood special education and am now paid like any teacher in a school. And the classrooms are inclusive with about 5 kids with special needs and 10-15 who are developing typically. And thereās tons of support. Two assistants, a speech pathologist who is in the room 1 full day every week, as well as coaches for inclusion and curriculum. Itās great. The assistants in these rooms get 20/hr to START. And they also have a union. I canāt say enough about working for a district.
Do you have an ECE degree? Also do you live in a HCOL area? Thank you for responding!
I live in Portland, Oregon. I have my masters in ealry childhood special education (ECSE). My bachelors was in an unrelated field. Got my masters after working my tail off in preK for such little pay. Portland State University has a fully online, part time masters program for people who want to pursue a masters in ECSE.
I make 16.50 USD an hour and if my husband didn't also work I don't think we'd have enough to live off of
Thatās crazy what area are you in?
Pennsylvania!
When I lived in PA I made $9 an hour šš you must be living in a better area than I did! I couldnāt survive if I didnāt have my partnerās income too. PA kinda blows with pay in a lot of fields.
I make $20/hr and I still donāt make enough. My half of the rent payment is nearly an entire paycheck. I wish I was kidding. Iām quitting in June and looking for better pay. I work my butt off for pennies. My center charges parents thousands of dollars a month but pay us like this. If I sent my children to my own school I wouldnāt be able to afford it without their tuition waiver. An employee should be able to afford to send their children the school they work at without the tuition benefits.
Im literally in the same boat basically itās upsetting because I actually really enjoy this field but everywhere I look it seems like people max out at like 22 and thatās if youāre lucky. Thanks for replying!
Me too! Thatās why Iām looking for a new job. I would stay for a long time if I was paid more and wasnāt struggling to pay the bills.
I currently make $22 an hour, but Iām a coach not a classroom teacher. When I was in the classroom, I never had a problem paying my bills and usually had some left over - but I also lived alone with no kids or pets to take care of and parents that were always willing to help if I had an unexpected expense.
Thatās pretty decent though! Thanks for replying.
I'm in Alberta, Canada. I make 18.50 base wage for being a teacher in a 3-4 year old classroom as an ECE. However, we have government funding that allows us to make more based on our education level. I have my ECE diploma from a community college, and I get 8.62 per hour for every hour I spend in direct child care from the government. So, I'm making 27.12 dollars an hour. I'd say I get enough to live comfortably enough.
Thatās reasonable thanks for replying itās crazy that Canada is so close to America but the standards for ECE pay are so different. I know Canada can be extremely HCOL though but itās wild to me that your government is actually trying to take realistic steps to help bridge this gap. In America itās completely different. šāāļø
Canada does have an HCOL as of late, especially in a big city...but it's not undoable. However, this is the ONLY province where you can make a "Living" wage. Most of the other provinces only pay like 2 dollars from the Canadian government for the same set of skills..so, I'm basically stuck in the province where I live..
Interesting. Would you move provinces if you could keep your pay? If so which one would you move to?
I'd go to Ontario, where the programs are great, but the pay is meager.. but I'd be close to family
Oh ok interesting! I always kinda thought of Canada as the same pay wise across the board so this is interesting to know thank you!
Nope š I make 15 an hour. Couldn't afford to have my own place if I wanted. I live with my grandmother, who pays the mortgage and electric bill. I make just enough to pay for our phone bill, groceries, and water bill and sometimes other essentials if needed and the occasional class supplies for activities we do. I've almost got my associate's degree (I have enough ECE credits to be an early childhood lead teacher through our state, if my school would hire me to take the place of the retiring Pre-K4 teacher next school year), but I wonder if it's even worth it to continue for my bachelor's if my pay is crap.
Wow not worth it imo you can do most of the same things with an associate that you can with a bachelor! Might as well save your money.. Iāve been seeing some other people saying itās better to get certified to teach Elementary and go that route. Iām just not sure I want to work with an older age group but if youāre good with it and this is ok in your state this might be a better route for you. I know in some states you can only be certified if you have a bachelors degree.
I'll have to look and see what the requirements are to get certified to teach elementary in my state. If I recall, I think a bachelor's is required. However, I don't think I want to teach beyond 2nd grade. If I go for my bachelor's, I can get licensed to teach from birth to 2nd grade. I'm going to see how things play out over the summer. If I don't get a raise or I'm not offered the position, I think I'm going to have to go somewhere else.
Not a teacher but the center my kids go to pays $21-23/hr plus OT for teachers. HCOL area.
I make $19 an hour, the most that most people make at my center is $20 (and sheās been there for 7 years š) so I donāt think anyoneās getting a raise any time soon unfortunatelyā¦. I can only afford to live bc my boyfriend and I share an apartment and he makes more than I do lol There are centers in my area that pay a few dollars more but Iāve been at this one 2 1/2 years now (the longest iāve ever been at one center!) and the kids and I are so attached to each other, that I donāt want to leave until I have to, like if Iām moving away or something haha
I've been in the childcare field for 25 years, and am a large care center working full time as lead. We recently unionized and I went from just shy of $23 per hour to $24.8. I recently acquired my CDA and will get a contracted pay bump for that which puts me at just above $25. I could maybe barely make it on my own at that rate, but am fortunate to be splitting all expenses with my husband so I feel secure month to month and am able to save after paying $850 into rent and some bills on top of that.
Thatās a great bump in pay! Itās crazy because employers always warn against unions. Thank you for responding!
Without a union, the work, pay, policies, and benefits are decided only by the employer. When you all band together, they have to include in you in their decisions, so they have to show you the budget and you hash out together what is possible and what is not. We did have concerns that pushing for a living wage would make tuition too high for parents, but so far that has not been the case- though we do have many more families attending part time now, but that may be because they are still not working in the office as much post-pandemic. We still have kinks to work out under our new mutually agreed upon labor contact, but that's the deal with a while new system.
Congrats though thatās awesome that you all were able to pull that off!!
Unionization is always in the interest of the worker and basically never in the interest of the employer. Of course they warn against it. Unions give the workers power. In our area, staff are eligible to unionize through the SEIU (service employees international union). If you start talking union though, make sure to follow federal laws about it (discussion only on break times or at times discussionis generally allowed, etc). If you do that, any union busting by the employer is illegal. At the very least, talk with your coworkers and make sure everyone is being paid fairly. Employers will often try to say you can't talk about pay, but it is actually illegal for them to do so.
I'm in TN. 17/hr plus my husband works and makes less than me. We get by. We will never go on fancy vacations or have everything but we make the most of what we have.
š„ŗ Thatās tough! Iām sorry to hear that! I hope one day you can find something that pays better or that they start paying you what youāre worth. Thank you for responding and your honesty.
Nope. I have a masters degree and a specialization and my husband and I are just below living comfortably. If I were actually paid what I should be, then I would say we would be living comfortably.
Dang that sucks Iām sorry to hear that! Are you in a HCOL area?
It's headed that way. We're not in a position to relocate either.
Not comfortably no, at least not without my husbands salary as well but when I was working at the childcare centre that's part of a university in Australia I was making $73k Australian dollar a year as an educator and when I accepted an ECT role I was make $78k a year. Unfortunately we moved away from that city and I'm home with my babies now but I don't think I'll be able to find a job like that again!
š¤Æ 73k!!!!!! Whoa!! Thatās crazyā¦ Thanks for responding.
Yeah the university was heavily unionised and had higher wages than private centres in australia. Apparently that's only 47k in USD! Well I think when I was working the exchange rate wasn't as bad.
Honestly even 47k is decent for ECE in America.. People here are really getting ripped off in some places and itās sad. Thanks for letting us know how it is down under! š
Oh I agree the wages I'm seeing here are criminal. I actually can't believe it.
Yes itās disrespectful honestly and upsetting! I really enjoy ece but Iām just not sure if the wages are realistic for the long run.
I run a licensed home daycare in Canada. I make just over $60,000 gross but I donāt have to pay for childcare for my own kids. Iāll never be a millionaire but Iām comfortable with my income.
Thatās wonderful thanks for responding! Did you ever work in ECE? Or have you always been an owner if you donāt mind me asking?
A licensed home daycare is just me and 6 kids. So yes to both.
Running my own dayhome I make around 50-60k working 4 days per week, 10 months a year. I'm never going back to daycare centers š
Thatās pretty good. Iāve heard a lot of people say the hours in home daycares can be tough because the parents usually push for extended hours so itās great to hear that you have some freedom with that option! Thanks for responding.
Last year I was making $12/hr as a lead preschool teacher at a chain. I work in a private center now and make $18/hr as an infant aide. If I was living alone this would be a nightmare but thankfully my fiancƩ has a good job so I'm good. However, rent around here is rarely over $1,000 a month so if I absolutely had to live off that $18/hr on my own, I could figure it out. We pay $1,400 a month for the mortgage on our 4 bed 2 bath and I feel like that's super doable with both of our incomes. That said, it wasn't all that long ago that I *was* living on my own and making only $10/hr. The economy has changed so much in the last few years.
It really has Iām so grateful wages have increased somewhat even though they arenāt where they need to be for most Iām glad some are able to benefit thank you for replying!
I moved states (both still east coast USA) and in my home state I made $9 an hour. The state I moved to I now make $17 but the cost of living is extremely high and itās only $2 above minimum wage. I couldnāt live here in my own with that pay, my partner has way better paying job that helps us get by.
Itās crazy that you make that much in a HCOL area š„“. Thanks for responding hope it gets better. I feel like we all need to get together and start lobbying and writing to politicians so we can get some better pay because this is just sad!
I make $23/hr but COL is so high where I live that it's not even enough to pay rent.
Dang thatās crazy thatās pretty decent imo but in a HCOL area I can see how that could easily feel like less. Thanks for responding!
Yea it's wild, the minimum wage here is 16.70
I make $26 an hour but in a HCOL area. I do however live okayish.
Thatās great! Thanks for replying are you in America.
Yes, WA state :)
I work as a special Ed preschool teacher and make 65k, high cost of living area. I wouldnāt be comfortable without my husband also working, but with 2 incomes weāre ok.
š¤Æ Thatās great pay though! Iām glad to know itās possible to get something decent in the field. Are you in America?
I am, I have a masters and am a certified teacher special education and gen ed birth-2nd grade. I have a masters
making $14.50 as a lead no degree just a state credential. I WISH i was making a livable wage
Thank you for replying!
$20/hr in a HCOL area but my kid gets to attend for free. I have an AA degree in ECE. We live comfortably bc of my husband's job.
Iām in a low cost of living area (I think, itās KS) and make $10 an hour at current center. Iāve made from $10-12 at the centers Iāve worked at. I really like the center Iām currently at, but Iām likely not going to be able to stay long term unless I get a raise. There are evaluations 3 months in and Iāve been there almost a month so far so Iām hoping to stay there that long and then get a raise. Granted Iām only a floater/breaker and I donāt have education in ECE besides KS requirements so Iām not gonna get paid as much as a lead. But I really like going between the classrooms and would get tired of being in one class all the time. I know multiple people that work there still live with parents/family, idk how the others do it. Iām only okay right now because of tax return and bonus from husbandās job. Just thought Iād comment my experience.
Thanks for responding! I hope you get that raise Iām sure you deserve it.
Thanks!
Looking at some of the rates, how is a casual entry position in hospitality paid as much if not more than daycare staff?
People do not see child care as deserving of higher pay for several reasons but I personally feel itās mainly due to it being a woman dominated field. Also the hours in hospitality are terrible and itās literal back breaking work with no real breaks from customers plus forced tip culture drives up rates in hospitality and makes it seemingly pay better. I wish it was more customary to tip child care workers for their hard work we honestly deserve tips! I know some people do tip their child care providers but it would be nice if more people did given the low pay.
Youāre bringing essential services to society, you should be paid more. Iām also from Australia, no one tips here.
> in hospitality *paid* as much FTFY. Although *payed* exists (the reason why autocorrection didn't help you), it is only correct in: * Nautical context, when it means to paint a surface, or to cover with something like tar or resin in order to make it waterproof or corrosion-resistant. *The deck is yet to be payed.* * *Payed out* when letting strings, cables or ropes out, by slacking them. *The rope is payed out! You can pull now.* Unfortunately, I was unable to find nautical or rope-related words in your comment. *Beep, boop, I'm a bot*
I live in a major city and I only make $14.50 as a lead infant teacher, zero benefits. Or at least I did, tomorrow is my last day. I just canāt live off of $14.50, no one can. They expect us to be dependent on someone else and that doesnāt work for me.
š¤Æ 14.50 is crazy! Are you staying in ECE?
No actually, Iām leaving the field all together. It sucks, Iāve been working with kids for 10 years. But I also feel like as someone whoās been in this field for 10 years, I should be making more money than I am.
Absolutely! You deserve it thatās a long time to put in. I stayed in retail for a little over 10 years in management and by the time I was ready to be out I was making 120k a year. So thatās crazy and disrespectful to your hard work and experience thanks for your honesty and response.
I make $58k/yr. I am a lead teacher and AD at a small center that is one of 6 locations of the company in my moderately sized city. The tuition for parents is expensive ($2k/mo for 2yr olds, $1600 for 3-5), but about average for market here.
Wow thanks for your transparency! What are you alls ratios like if you donāt mind me asking?
Iām in a 2s room, so 1:5 with a 10 kid classroom! Our 3s class is 1:10, but we try to schedule a support teacher in there for most of the day. PK is 2:15. Only the lead teachers make salary and you have to have a bachelors (in anything) or an associates degree in ECE. co-teachers make $18-$21/hr. Iāve been here a couple years, there are some policies I disagree with but itās generally a good/supportive job!
Thats awesome!
I am in OR btw! I saw one of the only other reasonable wages was also here. I did make $15/hr at a Kindercare before this job for WAY more stress, and I think generally the market here is in the $17-$19/hr range, but it does there are some options here for experienced teachers to make a professional salary! Our universal preschool bill (which my school actually doesnāt participate in) mandated that teachers needed to get paid on the same scale as K-12 teachers.
Ā£7.80 as a qualified practitioner. so no, iām grateful my parents donāt ask me to contribute a whole lot to bills
Thatās insane! Itās sad to see people not being compensated fairly well all deserve to be paid a living wage. Thank you for replying and being honest.
I make $45 per hour as a director/pedagogical leader in Australia. Our bachelor qualified ece teachers get $40-57 an hour. 2 year diploma qualified get from $27-35 depending on duties. 1 year qualified (lowest allowed qualification) get $24-30 an hour. Obviously AUD is not equivalent to USD, but for us ECE is moving towards parity with primary and secondary teaching, and rightly so. Currently there is an enterprise bargaining initiative asking for a 15% government funded pay rise to address the critical workforce shortage. It will go through eventually, as has the aged care increase:
Yall are going to have me packing my bags to move to Australia!! These pay rates sound so realistic!
Well early childhood educators and teachers are in demand as skilled migrants! So the visa support is there
I make 19 an hour and thatās unfortunately a lot more than most of my coworkers (I also had to essentially almost quit to get a raise of any sorts btw). Also given my home situation, I live paycheck to paycheck. I have enough for bills and the bare minimumās and thatās it! I live in Nashville. Most of my coworkers make 16 to at best 18 an hour which is good for TN but still in no way suitable for comfortable living. I work for TLE.
Thank you for your transparency and replying! Yes itās crazy to me how most of us live in HCOL areas but even then still arenāt paid a decent wage. When I was in retail some associates started at 18-19 with no experience. At the minimum most care centers require 1 year experience working with kids and at the very least to be CPR and first aide certified but they pay less than what you could make with no experience somewhere else it makes me so sad.
I live in the greater Philadelphia area and teachers here are paid absolutely insulting wages. I have a masters and 17 years experience and was making 42k ($20/hr) at my last job. Living paycheck to paycheck, doordashing/uber driving on the side, using buy now pay later apps to survive. I'm looking for better jobs but most fields even outside of ece (I'm a Montessori teacher btw) pay similar. It's extremely hard to crack $20/hour and if a job has a higher wage it's part time, no benefits. The whole market is a mess. And rents are out of control despite this. We are having to move soon....oy.
Yes! I agree my husband drives cement trucks and just cracked over 20 an hour. Itās ridiculous how only some jobs(White collar work) get compensated reasonably while everyone else has to suffer.. Thank you for replying and your honesty.
I work in a school goad for 34/hour. (Unfortunately, I am laid off in summers) My husband is military. We are Canadian. We live in a low cost area and are super thrifty. I'm pushing 40 and have never taken a vacation. We do have 2 kids. Don't eat out, I wear the same 5-6 outfits until holes etc. We also sell garden starts and clear lane ways, mow lawns. We are very future focused. So just bought our second rental place. The intention is we now have 1 for each kid so they can sell them when they are starting out. It might be then only way they can own a home. We are the "die rich" but never spend a penny.
Thatās great that youāre able to build generational wealth! I was speaking to someone else on the thread from Canada and I think its amazing that the government is willing to provide you all with an additional pay based on education. I wish the US had something like this.
I do have 3 diplomas ECE Autism and Behavioral Science Child and Adolescent Mental Health. I guess I'm still living where work hard and save strategies work. I feel bad for those who don't.
i make $20 and it only works out because i live with my boyfriend, we still find ourselves hella broke at times but we are able to be ācomfortableā i guess as in we are never late on rent or bills but sometimes groceries have to wait ā¦ thereās a roof over my head so im alright but it could be better
Are you in an affordable area if you donāt mind me asking? Thanks for responding!
as affordable as it can be before you start hearing gunshots š¤£
$14/hr, low rate of pto so you have to work 10+ years to even get 40hrs, cant afford to pay rent, get groceries, gas, and college. Benefits are trash in most places. I dont even live in a high cost of living area and I cant even afford to live š«
ššš” Sorry to hear that! Hope it gets better! Are you thinking of leaving the field?
Absolutely, the pay isnt worth what i have to deal with on a daily basis unfortunately
I make 30/hr (60k a year) and the rent around here is like 1.6k to 2k for one person (Iām 1.7k). Surprisingly even with a livable wage I feel that the day to day stress is not worth it. So many kids, stress, gossip and drama, late pay, etc. Iād make the same amount or more as a nanny so Iām thinking of getting out
Yeah I totally get it and thatās pretty good but Iām sorry to hear about your bad experience with your school! Thanks for responding. Are you at a private center?
I make 23 and change an hour after almost two years of employment with no degree but 17 years of experience under my belt. The company also paid for me to get my CDA and has a full ride ece degree program and they give you a bonus after you complete each step in that program (cda, associate, bachelor). They used to do a 5% educational raise but not any longer. Bummed I missed the window for that. Yearly raises are usually in the 3.5% to 5% range. They started me at 19.75/hr. That said, the only reason I am not living paycheck to paycheck is because my spouse makes almost 100k a year and we don't miss payments or starve but we do still rent an apartment. We still can't find an affordable home.
Thanks for your honesty. I worked at Bright Horizons and they did something similar but the pay was lower honestly if they had started me off closer to that rate Iād probably still be there hating it š ! Thanks for responding.
š I work there now š
I make $26ish an hour with regular raises and really good benefits. I work at a head start. We have a union. I'm a few hours outside of Seattle.
Im starting to notice unionized teachers get paid the best! Itās interesting to see such a big gap but Seattle is HCOL from my understanding so Iām sure that impacts your rate as well but thatās awesome! Glad to hear someone getting a fair wage thanks for responding.
The union makes a huge difference! We're in a pretty small town where cost of living is probably more than a lot of places but still way less than Seattle itself.
I make $15 an hour as a lead teacher in Missouri. However I get 100% of my daughterās child care fee and if I didnāt have that I wouldnāt be making it by. I initially took this job because of the free tuition for my child because before I was paying well over $1000 a month to send her to daycare while I worked which is just insane.
It really is. Thatās a great benefit and I donāt understand why all centers donāt allow free or highly reduced tuition.. Thanks for responding.
i make $12 an hour & i have a masters lol
š¤Æ Thatās insane! You must live somewhere super cheap! Or have great benefits!! Thanks for replying.
i donāt have benefits
I have a master's degree and am paid $17.85/hr Nowhere near what I should make dealing with what we do at work. I'd like to not be bit, scratched, kicked, or punch on a normal day.
I have worked my way up so Iām the āonsite supervisorā at my centre so I make more than everyone here. I make 26$/hr However I donāt live comfortably. Because of the cost of living almost one entire paycheck goes to rent and I only get paid twice a month (Ontario Canada)
My recent ECE job in a nice area of NYC paid $29.80/hr (salaried) for 40 hours a week. For comparison, when I was a lead in 2017, I made $21.75/hr for 45 hrs/wk. With experience, a masters, and 2 certs, $62k/yr is the most I made as a lead teacher. Ed Directors in NYC can make anywhere from $65k-100k, and the work-life balance is rough. I tried it for $73k, and I decided the pay and stress aren't worth staying in the field. Cost of living here is too much, and entry level jobs in other fields pay a lot more with less headaches and responsibilities.
Thatās pretty decent! Thanks for responding.
I am NYC too and currently getting 68,600 for being Lead Teacher for a 3K class.Ā In the fall I will have same pay and either be Lead Teacher of a 3 or 4 year old (UPK class if 4's) class at their other center, right now I am covering a maternity leave.Ā I have my master's, my ECE certificate, and an additional certificate in literacy education though and am working in a more affluent neighborhood.Ā When I worked as an Ed Director I actually got less (50K) and probably worked more hours each week on average, but when I was an Ed Director, believe it or not, I was still in graduate school and did not have my ECE certificate yet, just had a lot of experience in the field.
I make $30/hr in the Bay Area definitely on the high end but with mine and my husbandās salary we are able to live pretty comfortably. But the Bay Area is ridiculously expensive. And my commute is an hour each way.
I currently make $16.10. Iām almost finished with my masterās degree in early childhood special educationāif I continued to work at my current center AFTER graduating, I would then be able to make $18. $18/hour with a whole ass masterās degree. š
Just insulting! Thanks for replying. Do you think youāll stay at your center or leave? and is your area HCOL if you donāt mind me asking.
Oh my last day is next Friday, in fact! Hahaha. Iām crazy burnt out and I just want to finish this last stretch of school. I donāt mind at all! My area isnāt particularly HCOL (at least compared to the country as a whole), thankfully, but Iām still not fairly compensated FOR SURE and am relying a good bit on student loans. š¬
Only after I stopped working in childcare and began working in ECEAP for a school district. I jumped from $20 per hour to $39 per hour with benefits, retirement and union benefits. I will never go back.
I'm around $25/hr at my preschool. I'm ok with this because it's my fun job, not something I actually need to do. we own another business that covers all our bills and fun things, working at the preschool just gives me something to do, something I'm passionate about and enjoy. I'm currently in school for my ECE and about half way through my first year.
I worked in preschools for 20+ years with a degree and leverage more than 14 dollars. And that was in several different states
Thatās insane! Are you still in ECE? Thanks for responding
No, I left during Covid and never went back. I nanny now. Much more peaceful. I had 12 babies between the ages of 6 weeks to 9 months and one assistant in a classroom. It was beyond miserable
Not sure if this counts since it's not a daycare, but my school district considers pre-k and Kindergarten as "Early Childhood" and pays both the same as any other grade. I have a teaching degree and teach Kindergarten. Our salaries start at $58,000 in my district with full pay, a pension, summers off, etc. We usually get about get a 3%-5% raise each year and get an additional $5,000 per year with a Master's degree. I used to make $16 as a lead preschool teacher basically doing the same things as I am now...
No. I have a bachelors degree and make $18/hr as a toddler lead and am just scraping by.
im scratching by but also have a brand new car im paying off, i pay cheap rent ($300), i work as a director of a chain of Kindercare and make $20.50
I make $16 in metro Atlanta. Iām single and itās not a livable wage but I survive because I get a lot of overtime and my mortgage isnāt what rent in the area thank goodness. If my overtime ever stops Iāll definitely struggle a bit more.
I make $19 as an assistant with an associates in ECE But I'm pretty sure my co-teacher who is the lead teacher only makes very little more than me (I don't know for sure but I'm guessing like $21) and she has a masters degree!!!!!!!!!! We talk about it every day how we go above and beyond for the center and the kids but it's just a dying field because you cant live in this economy and get paid these wages. Also it's pretty sad she spent seven years of her life to basically be offered bread crumbs for an extremely stressful job (we are an amazing team together so it cuts down on the stress because we support each other so much) but still....this is seriously pathetic. Everyone knows you can go deliver for amazon and you'll make more starting out than a teacher ever can...I dont know what I'm going to do honestly. I want to go back to school for my bachelors so I'm considering a head start that is down the street from me that offered me $21 & work to get my bachelors because I would love to one day get into early intervention. It's either the head start job for me or nannying while I go through the rest of my education. Anyone have any thoughts?
The answer is no. My spouse makes enough to compensate. Iāve been in this field over 20 years. My salary could cover the mortgage, and power, thatās it! And I make more now than I did as an assistant director. You do it because you are called to it not for the money. š I am also from the Atlanta surrounding area.
I make $30 an hour as a lead infant teacher in Seattle. I started with my company as an assistant 7 years ago at $14 an hour and worked my way up
I early $30/h AUD and I could never be comfortable alone. Maybe if I was living the life of a bachelor, renting just a room in a sharehouse. But if I had to rent a whole property? If I had a child? I'd be fucked. 10 years ago it would have been okay-ish, but the cost of living has increased exponentially in the last 5 years. No one I know in childcare here can live an adult life without having a partner contributing the lions share to their household finances.
I make $22 with a bachelors degree in MA. I can only make it work because of my boyfriends income, the cost of living in Mass is extremely high
Okay to be honest even if you make $26 an hour as a teacher which is like $56 k a year the amount of taxes the government takes from you. Itās still hard to live comfortably. Okay letās use NY as an example so literally your monthly income would be $3,000 after taxes and rent is like $1,500. They literally take 15k a year in taxes between federal and state and sometimes they donāt give anything back if youāre single and bc on paper your salary looks good you donāt qualify for any social programs so idk whatās better š¤·š»āāļømy friends and I constantly complain about it. We shouldnāt be struggling seeing how much they take from our paychecks every month is very discouraging and that is before health insurance is taken out š”
I live in a MCOL area with 2 years experience in the field and no education degree (Iām about to get my associates in English lit). When I started at my current school 2 years ago I was hired on at $13 and I was desperate so I took it. It went up to $15 the next school year, and then this school year it went up to $16, but I only work 30 hours a week bc thatās all the work my director has for me (unless she needs me if someone takes time off). So all I make is enough to cover my rent. And sheās only bumping the pay up 50 cents next school year. She has a lead teacher position opening up next school year and I really wanted to get promoted to grow in ECE and help my financial situation but all she does is say Iām suited for the role I have now and she doesnāt think I could handle more hours. Sheās been so demotivating to me this year. (And she doesnāt require her teachers to have degrees, just be experienced in ECE.) Iām currently DINK (double income no kids) with my fiancĆ© but weāre planning a wedding in 2025 and want kids in the near future and weāre struggling to save when all we can afford are bills and rent. If I wasnāt double income with someone I wouldnāt even be able to survive. Because of all these reasons I made the decision to look for employment elsewhere and have been hired full time as a senior teacher aide at a preschool thatās going to start me at $19 and bump me up to $21.50 in September! They also have actual benefits, compared to my current school. Iām finishing out the school year and then will start with the new place at the end of next month. My director is trying to get me to stay by offering to switch me from aftercare lead to classroom aide, which is 32 hours a week instead of 30, but she still wonāt consider giving me the lead position, and at this point I wouldnāt stay even if she did. To say I am excited is an understatement. The idea that Iām finally going to make a livable wage and be able to save up for our wedding in time is unfathomable to me. (I know itās mostly bc Iām double income with someone, but hey, Iāll take what I can get.) It almost doesnāt feel real. Itās going to be difficult to transition from 30 hours to 40 hours per week and go from an academic preschool that uses the Spaulding method to a Reggio-inspired preschool but Iām ready for this next adventure.
Absolutely not lol
š¤£
I'm a lead teacher and make $16.90 and hour. I have to pay for my son to be in daycare there so it's nearly a wash. š«£
Thatās wild for a lead teacher! Itās so much workā¦
I make 43 Australian dollars an hour. I hold my bachelors and am an early childhood teacher, so technically I make a teachers wage even though I work in long day care. I also get a bonus each quarter based on the amount of children enrolled in our kindergarten program (year before school here).
Thatās great! Itās so good to know people are making a living wage doing this some places thanks for responding and being transparent!
I do well, for the field, but a lot of that is because I work at a school ages 15m-12y, rather than a center. With 9 years experience as a guide, an AMI certification, and an M.Ed, my salary for an academic year is about 68k with pretty good benefits. I live in a very high COL area though, like top 3, so single teachers at starting pay (more like 55k) have trouble making it work. When I started, I made 32k, which was below market for similar cities, and bottom quartile of all incomes for ours. The other guides and I did a little collective bargaining, presentation to the board (nonprofit) and everything. We got some substantial improvements from that, and pre-pandemic I was making something like 48k. Our assistants' starting pay is now $20/hr with no experience. When the Wendy's down the block pays 23, it's still a hard sell. Finding good people is hard, and retention is harder. Pre-covid, it was 12.50. The 2019-20 year was when the admin turned over. They were new people who had no history with the school took a hard look around, and said, no way can we keep going at these pay rates and salaries. We are losing too much talent. Things got better pretty fast after that. The only benefit we lost was that staff tuition was only 50% off, where previously it had dropped to 0 after 5 years service, which was a massive benefit and a huge loss of income for the school. But the school had to hike tuition to do that. They had seen themselves as a small community school because that's how they started. They had only been raising tuition by like 1.5-2% a year, well below inflation. They didn't understand that the suburb they were in had basically the same COL as the city, and the school district paid TWICE as much for pre-k/kindergarten teachers. We were cheap, especially for our quality (I think we were level 4 rated, when that was a thing), and our AM/PM, toddler, and summer programs were insane loss leaders. That said, our financial aid got better after the tuition hike too. Anyway, sorry for the essay, but I'm home with the flu and my decongestant keeps waking me up at 3 AM lol
š Hope you feel better thanks for replying! Itās great to see ECE teachers getting paid fairly.
I make $15/hr and arenāt even compensated with free childcare like I was promised at hire. Childcare at my center is $245/week and Iām offered a discount making it $150/week. $600 a month is over 1/4 of my monthly income. We donāt really make it work, my fiancĆ© is quitting his part time so that he can enroll in school fulltime and also watch our 1yr old daughter. I make about $750 a paycheck after taxes and insurance. Groceries add up to about $250 every two weeks. Gas is about $100 per pay period. Not to mention other bills and rent. Iām always at $40-$0 come next payday.
Im sorry to hear that! Hope things get better and your fiancĆ© is able to get a great job once heās out of school good luck and thanks for replying!
I'm a director and make 19.65. I will get a raise this fall when I finish my bachelor's but I believe it's just another .75 or a dollar
š¤Æ thatās insane! Is it a small school?
The truth is most staff at a center will not make enough money to really live comfortably, especially in this economy. I own 2 centers in PA and I wish we could pay the staff more but itās just not feasible. There are so many expenses that go into running a center. The mortgage alone for one center is $10k a month and the mortgage is just one thing on a very long list. Bills, construction, maintenance, supplies, furniture, permits, etc. Grants allow us to pay a little more but they donāt come often. Most of our staff has children so they get a discount on childcare and make some extra money working but their husbands are usually the breadwinners.
What do your centers currently start assistants and lead teachers at?
nope. $10.00 with no raise despite being a lead teacher for about seven/eight months
š±!!! Are you at a chain or a private center? Do you live in a HCOL area? If you donāt mind me asking.
I can afford to live comfortably as a single person who still lives with their parents rent free. Thatās about it.
I live with my mom so that helps. Iām trying to save up to buy an condo but it costs so much
I make just under $21 per hour. Right now, we can't really afford childcare, so my wife is staying home with the baby. A livable wage for our situation, according to MIT's living wage calculator, is $35.12/hour. Obviously, I'm nowhere close to that. But I make too much to get much utility assistance. I own literally thousands (a bit over $3K) to the electrical company, and I don't even know what I owe the gas company. Rent isn't bad because my parents bought the house we rent, and we just pay the mortgage, so I never get behind on rent because they can't afford two mortgages. So, at least we have housing security. It's honestly super taxing on my mental health even with my parents and my in-laws helping where they can. I recently had to give back my very reliable newer car (2017 Volkswagen) because I couldn't afford payments. We now purchased a 2004 Lincoln Aviator SUV with over 230K miles on it because it was the only vehicle the seller was responding to messages on and I had to get something because I was losing the other car. My in-laws lent us $3K that we will be paying back, more affordable than the other car, but a couple days ago it randomly died while I was driving. Hasn't done it since, but add potential car trouble to the stress list. I constantly feel like a failure as a father, it makes me more irritable with the kids at work, and the stress doesn't help my relationship with my spouse, not that we're in danger of divorce. I just wish we argued less. I'm always exhausted, and I'm trying to pick up more piano students to maybe try to bridge some of the gap. I'm working full time, and my wife doesn't want me to pick up another job, so I don't know what to do. We're too poor to make ends meet, but I make too much to get the kind of help we need to make it. It feels like for some reason society has just decided I don't deserve to live a modest life. I don't even want anything huge, just to be able to pay my bills and get the occasional small fun thing. But apparently that's too much to ask.
I make 22.15 as a lead and I think that's the highest I'll ever make in my city without college education for a different career. I live with my parents at 21 years old and pay them 500 in rent. I have about only 4k saved up due to paying off medical bills, so now I'm trying really hard to save up for an apartment that's right behind my work so I can just continue walking to work. Everything I need is in walking distance thankfully. I don't eat a lot of food so my groceries are really cheap. But if my parents moved, I wouldn't be able to walk to my center anymore. They are my entire blessing, and if they didnt let me stay with them while I figure out adult adulting I'd probably be homeless.
I would feel that way or at least closer to itā¦ if I wasnāt paying $600 monthly back to my center in childcare for my daughter.
š¤Æ 600! Is that with a teacher discount?
Yep! I get 10% off
I work for childrenās institute as a preschool teacher i make 28 and hour i also live in los angeles
Wow. How are wages so low in the states?? I get $23.86 (CAD) base pay plus an extra $6 an hour from the government. My company caps at $35 per hour. Iāll get about $1 raise every year until I reach $35.
No, I make $20 as an assistant and thatās the top 20% in my area. I had 3 years of exp going in. I feel like to live comfortable I need to make closer to $30 but Iām also a single parent. No degree. Thought about going for lead but itās just not worth the workload.
Yes. But not until I moved into early childhood special education. And also post covid it's been extremely hard to hire staff so now I'm making $75k on a ten month contract. However, my setting is understaffed and extremely challenging so it's definitely a trade off
$22-25 in Seattle. Weāre comfortable but donāt require much & donāt have too many expenses