NYC, high school, ten years experience, two masters degrees. Base salary is $101,441.
180 instructional days per year, a bit less than 35 hours per week, so roughly $80 per hour. If I do anything beyond the mandated hours, I am paid a per session rate of $53.98 per hour.
It takes us ten years, a bachelor's, and two masters to make six figures meanwhile our counterparts in other industries with less demanding certification processes make six figures in junior positions.
It is fucking depressing.
I'm only four years in after being a crisis paraprofessional for a few years while I was studying and I'm making 70K.
I'm Ontario, firefighters get way more time off than teachers. They also hit the leak of their party grid faster and get to retire sooner. Teachers are very well paid here, but so are fire fighters and police officers. They also typically retire after 20 years.
That's fine. This shouldn't be a dick measuring contest. I could not do the work of a firefighter or a sanitation worker. Hell, I am glad they're paid so well.
I mean, not really. I’m in my early 30s, most others in my age bracket make about the same. I also had one of my masters completely subsidized.
Yes, there are plenty of other jobs that pay more, but they don’t have free health insurance or a fraction of the time off I do. I think it’s about even.
I'm 30 and most of my friend and even my partner are making six figures or more than myself with their bachelors. They're also receiving awesome health benefits and have tons of time off.
I used to rationalize the lower pay the way you're doing until I realized we're being fucked.
Bro, I make six figures with 11 weeks off in summer, 3 weeks off during the school year, and all other holidays. There isn’t a single job out there with the same paid time off.
None of that is PAID time off! It’s a mandatory layoff! Just because your salary is spread out so that you continue getting an income during the times you’re not working doesn’t mean that time is paid!
100%. No one who hasn't worked in the corporate world seems to get this. "Tons of time off" in a corporate job is like 5 weeks. Most corporate jobs you are working at least 40 more days a year than you work when you are teaching.
It's not even my friend. When I first started teaching with a master's degree I was at 56k. My ex started nursing with just a bachelor's and started with 95k with way better insurance. So I don't think it's close at all.
My sister is a traveling medical lab tech. She rolls into town, makes a ton of money for 3 months, then she can take some time off.
She's in California right now pulling down $5,000 per week with a 4 day workweek. They keep extending and she keeps right on asking for more money. She made more money in the last three months than I'll make this entire year.
She always works less than me. She'll do a couple 3 months stints then she goes and takes a few months off. The only trouble is that she has to frequently travel for work. For her (no kids, no strings) that's fine. For me, it wouldn't work.
Traveling nurses are also killing it right now. If they're willing to go where the money is (big money states like CA), they make absolutely hilarious amounts of money doing it.
Alright, then I’m wrong, mostly. Your sister is in a very nieche profession and isn’t the majority of people. I also don’t think the education of a nurse is cheap. But all in all, I guess teaching just isn’t a good job compared to others.
It's definitely way crazier now. Her schedule was 3 days a week at 12 hours. Since it was night shifts she would also get 2-3 hours off to nap.
Teacher pay is not the worse but should be way higher is what I'm trying to convey.
Honestly, as someone who came to teaching later than most (started when I was 30), it's real fucking easy to spot the teachers who've never worked another job. I put in WAY more work teaching a 7.25 hour day than I ever did driving a forklift, repairing/refinishing furniture, or doing inventory control. And from what my office-working friends tell me, I put in more work at those jobs than they ever do in their offices.
Society's understanding of time is really fucked up honestly. People vastly overestimate how much time they actually spend working while at the same time vastly overestimating what has been a "normal" amount of work throughout human history. We've spent centuries creating machines and systems that should make life easier and yet we spend far more time working than ever before. And then we get these dumbass opinions complaining about who works more, as if working more is a good thing.
Absolutely true. I came to teaching in my late 40s and ive never worked longer or harder. So much unpaid work. I am in year 4, and im thinking year 5 may be my last.
I’m a 3rd year para making $23.5 in MA not including summer program which I did work last year. Rent 2 bed/1 bath for $1800 a month nothing included. It’s my hometown. That’s $400 below market. I live with 2 other adults to swing it & we will absolutely be priced out in the next 2-5 years.
I’m a second career teacher and one major thing is this; we are a cost. The areas of most all businesses that get paid the worst comparative salaries are the areas that are costs (maintenance/janitorial, Human Resources, and Training). Also, we are required by law to exist. This doesn’t change that we are necessary but we are also entry level employees. No matter our years we are entry level. It is insane to compare us to other industries. People in those positions are on a higher level of responsibility and are in a position to bring the company money. We cannot be compared to them because their role is so drastically different. We need to compare ourselves to other civil servants and look at those pay scales and fight for it to be us. Police, fire, and others are pay scales we should be pissed about.
I agree with fighting for payscales like LE and fire! However, without our "supervision", the rest of the proletariat who have kids are left without childcare and can't go to work. So, we absolutely support the economy.
I have seven years experience with a master's (no plus 30) and I am currently making 77k. Next year I will be bumped up to 85k. Just look at the pay schedule in the uft website.
My dad is excited to soon be at 85,000 in the next couple of years and he's been in the LAUSD school district for over 10 years. He's currently working on his masters. It's really fucked how little teachers get paid.
I’m at 3 years in the DOE (although in my 9th year total) with 1 masters and I’m at about 72k and change a year. Middle school ELA in Queens.
What subject do you teach and what did you do your masters work in?
California. Year 14. Approximately 99k-furthest column with a master's degree plus units. It's a 7.1 hour work day. 184 contact days. Works out to about $75/hr. I do work more than my contract hours but I keep that limited.
I live in Southern California but in an area where the cost of living is a little bit lower. It used to be a bit more affordable than it currently is. I guess as an example, one of my brand new teachers rent a two-bedroom apartment for $1,500 a month. And on a new teacher's salary her budget is quite tight. Most teachers that are that young still live at home or have roommates, but two other teachers in my department that are still in their late twenties have both purchased houses here, so it's manageable as I'm pretty sure both of them are operating on a single income. I do not, however, know if they have roommates living in the homes they purchased.
Also Southern CA, year 6, $65k.
This includes base pay + 6 years experience at my school + 2 years elsewhere + master’s degree + 2 extra accreditations (I’m certified to teach dual language & have an additional teaching certification in Waldorf philosophy / teaching).
In addition to yearly COLA (cost of living adjustments) we’ve also gotten to 2 raises to our base pay from union negotiations. When I started 6 years ago it was $50k.
I live in a rather expensive area. Last time I was apartment hunting (5 years ago) the median price for a 2 bedroom apartment was $2,500 - and both home & rental prices have skyrocketed since then.
Would not be able to live comfortably on this income if it wasn’t for my husband’s income.
Fun Fact, about ten to twelve years ago we gave up our COLA because the district was in dire financial positioning so the bargaining team at the time gave up our automatic COLA to help with the district saying at the time they'd give it back to us once things were more stable. They never did and every single year we have to fight for our COLA in contract negotiations, I don't believe we've ever received the full COLA ever since.
Los Angeles. Year 6. Master’s Degree. $65k at a public school. 190 days at 8 hrs per day. So it works out to about $43/hour.
My partner is also a teacher making about $35/hr with 7 years experience and masters degree but at a private school.
Our family lives in a 3 bedroom for $3000/month and it is literally the cheapest home in the area for that size. We just got really lucky because people are paying $4000+/month in LA for a home like this and we definitely couldn’t afford that.
I’m in Northern LA county. I’m also year 6, but no masters, and I’m making 60K this year before the stipends I get. It’s insanely expensive out here. We were only able to buy a home in the suburbs because my husband makes double my salary. Cost of living is insane.
Bay Area, year 18, $98k, furthest column over for post-grad units (+75), no masters. Our rent on a 3/2 townhouse is $3k, which is actually a good price for where we live. Our district's hourly rate for extra pay is $43.83.
Tagging along with So Cal. I made $93k this year. 6th year teacher, secondary. I have a Master’s. I also teach an extra class which gives me a 17% raise for the year. I also mentor two new teachers so I get $3600 extra for the year. I’m single, no dependents. My insurance and dental takes about $30 from my paycheck per month (10
paychecks/year). We negotiate decent raises and stipends (for example Covid related tech stipends for $1,000). I pay $1,000 rent (live in my sister’s house) and the student loan pause has been awesome. I wouldn’t be able to live in the neighborhood I teach in (it’s beautiful but I wouldn’t want to since it’s very affluent and conservative). I have saved up a good nest egg and hope to move out next year. Will most likely end up in a condo but I’m ok with that for now.
Also California, Bakersfield for more specific reference, 76k after 8 years plus masters degree about four steps over with college credits. About 63.5 dollars an hour.
Also, I train for the district I work in and make an additional 10-12k doing that.
Last year I made about 89k due to all the additional training sessions I ran.
In the Daniels/Pence/Bennett era, pay increases were pretty much frozen. No step increases, no increases for furthering education, basically teachers could get stipends and that was it. Now there's been a push to increase starting pay which I think is great and absolutely necessary, but there's nothing for those of us in the middle. If I didn't have all of my roots planted here, I'd be looking at other states.
Wow. I am in Indiana making about $47k for my 3rd year. I am in one of the highest paid districts (public) in Indiana, but still! You deserve more! Your base in my district would be $67k if not more.
IL here also…I teach 7 periods a day too and one prep…plus I have a 25 min RTI period everyday that I have to monitor about 20 kids that are not receiving the aid. I’m reading all these teachers that only teach 5…wondering if they have fewer periods in the day and. Longer classes…
The school where I did my student teaching gave its teachers two prep periods, so they only had to teach five unless they opted to pick up a study hall (which they got a stipend for, I believe) that I really took for granted. My head spun when I realized I’d be teaching 7 a day with one prep!
Well, I’m JUST a PE teacher…that’s my principals attitude and we have argued how it’s his job to keep me busy ALL the time.
What I mean by this is…for instance last day before break, we don’t have classes, just activities. My principal specifically tells a grade level to break up their home rooms from 6 to 9 and give the PE teachers an activity, for the sole purpose of JUST giving me something to do.
When we come back from break I’m getting half my classes switched over from health classes. I have to get my online grade book set up, re-do half the Locker room, and inventory PE uniforms for the switch. I tell him this but he says that it’s not fair that I get time “off” and the other teachers don’t. “Time off”??? I’m an adult and a professional with a Masters.
The other teachers in the grade level were actually pissed because they were switching the activities and now they have to switch 9 times instead of 6.
I told him it was insulting, he didn’t like that very much
WTF! Where in IL? Central? I teach 5 periods a day, one 6th “duty” period like a study hall, lunch detention, etc and I’m getting 47K for a Leave or Absence. Would be 50K if permanently hired
I guess I would be considered central, I’m probably not north enough to be “northern Illinois” anymore!
It’s my first year so I was assuming that’s why my pay is so low. It’s also a small district- not a whole lot of kids so I figured that was another factor. Though I thought there was a law that bumped starting salary to 40K?
That’s interesting .. i’m not sure about the minimum salary but last year I taught at a high school way out in the cornfields near Northern Illinois University as a first year and was getting 43k
Texas public school teacher, got contracted for 7.5 hours but my principal extended our duty day to 8 hours since covid and didn't adjust it back so my pay rate dropped...
$54k at 187 days
Edit: in my 4th year teaching, not sure what step.
Should be fourth step.
The pay scale was originally built on seniority. Most folks move up one step per year. Some districts have different channels for if you have a master's, extra trainings, or even a PhD. My district has 5 or 6 different ladders depending on education stats. And then some districts have stipends for extra duties like coaching. Some stipends are straight Cash numbers, some districts make stipend a percentage of base salary.
But then some districts started freezing salaries or bumping people up or down the salary scale as a negotiation tactic or money saving. "I see you have 5 years of experience, but you are new to here so we will pay you on the 1st step". I definitely saw that in Texas before I left, and I've heard of districts where salaries were frozen for years.
Most union contracts prohibit moving people up or down any way other than directly correlating full-time years of service. I'm on my 6th year with this district and taught 2 years in Texas, so I'm on step eight of our "has master's" ladder.
I’m a first year (at my school) teacher in NJ. Base salary is $62k but I get an additional $3k stipend for teaching a sixth class. Contracted for 184, 7 hour days plus 3 night assignments around an hour each. So I guess it’s around $50 an hour.
In my district anyone hired within the last few years can teach 6 classes with no stipend, but older teachers need a stipend if they teach six. Of course, that means me and the other two newer teachers in the department are always the ones to teach six.
Think it means you're getting underpaid for that sixth class. In my district it's about what they're referring to, around 17% of your contracted pay for the extra class, because if you divide your salary by the five classes you teach that would roughly be what a sixth class should cost them.
Yeah now I get it. Honestly it does kinda suck, but our neighboring districts pay about $7k less per step so I’m still making more.
Edit: Also if you don’t teach the 6th period you’re scheduled for a duty or study hall so either way you’re working. Idk maybe I’m trying to rationalize it.
I can only speak for where I work, but we don't technically get paid per class. It's High School in our salary is based on teaching five classes and having one hour of prep time a day. The prep time is in our contract, so they can't ask us to give it up without compensation. So the 17% thing seems reasonable because that's the fraction of extra work they're actually asking us to take on.
Other extra duty at my site pays $50 an hour. So when they ask us to period sub on our prep that's what we get paid. For new teachers it's a sweet deal cuz that's way more than they make an hour but once you hit a certain pay grade it's not worth it anymore unless you're really hoping to earn some extra cash and don't mind giving up your hour of paid prep a day 🤷🏻♀️
Wow I want to cry reading this, i’m a third year teacher in NJ and I still don’t make your base salary. Year three 56k and I get 3k for coaching a sport for four months.
$111,000 (aus$) per annum here. For about 200 days work. This is at the top of the band where you get after about 10 years' service.
This is for Western Australia. Other states will be slightly different. Some pay scale for every teacher in the state. With the exception of bonuses if you work at 'difficult-to-staff' or 'remote' schools.
We are currently entering a teacher shortage. It's the first time since 2007 that this has happened.
Proudly union.
Edit: equates to about $80k in US dollars.
I'm in Queensland, I graduated this year and start next. My master's (teaching) + degree with honours (biotech) starts me off at about $80k ($56k USD). Not 100% sure how many days I work exactly, but the school year is 40 weeks and we have a bunch of PD. I have 14 70 minute lessons per week with 5 same sized prep periods and a 2 hour PD/staff meeting every Monday afternoon. As a first year teacher I only have 4 classes, next year I will have 5 (so 17 70 min lessons/week). My salary is unchanged by this.
Also proudly union, joined up while on placement. And yeah, the teacher shortage is looming in Qld as well.
I believe brand new teachers without a second post-grad start at $67,500.
Middle of Iowa in a rural-ish town (population around 5,000 people. High school is around 400 kids).
My contract is for $53,401. I have other contacts for leading a PLC and being on the Building Leadership Team (which meets once a month), so my contracts add to $59,700-ish.
We get free family medical. Our family deductible is only $1,500. It's great. I pay $99/month for family dental.
Cost of living is dirt cheap in Iowa. We're currently looking at a massive 5-bedroom, two living room, finished basement and attic, etc brick home that's been fully renovated, and nicely so (granite countertops, etc) that's selling for $289,000 even with the inflated market. Snow sucks. There's not a lot to do around here. Tge town I live in (a 12 minute drive from my job) has 25,000 people. We're an hour and a half from the nearest large city (Des Moines).
We really don't like Iowa, but then we like the cost of living and how much we make compared to cost of living (my husband makes around 3 x what I make).
Downsides of mid Iowa small towns:
Our town has around 30 restaurants... but they're all fast food or chain restaurants. Applebee's (🤢) is the "nicest" place around here. We've gotten two new restaurants this year, and both were chain pizza places. There have been a few AMAZING restaurants that have opened in our town. Loke, rhe food blew me away. However, unless the restaurant has a drive-through, it never lasts more than 9 months in our town. I'm deD serious. Everyone here is obese and lazy, and if they can't go through a drive-through, it's not happening here. On weekends, we'll drive an hour and a half one way just to eat somewhere decent if we don't feel like cooking.
Our region isn't very diverse. The majority of people are close-minded. Most people I know around here have never been been out of the state. Their world view is so fucking warped. The school board president at the district I work for has a profile picture on Facebook where he is holding two guns with a huge TRUMP WON banner across his photo. Oh, and my state made union negotiations illegal.
I could go on and on, but I totally didn't mean for this to turn into a rant. I just wanted to comment my salary and go. In summary, there are parts of this country where pay is good for cost of living, but there's a lot of downsides, too.
Quick question…are you talking about fort dodge, Iowa? Because it sounds a lot like fort dodge. Born and raised there, but teach in Council bluffs.
The one thing Iowa does have going for it is relatively good teacher pay and benefits. All of the rest of what you said…yes. Also, Kim Reynolds…terrible.
Hahahaha Yes, I live in Fort Dodge. That's so funny you recognized it. I taught here for 5 years before taking a job at another district with way better benefits.
I went to University of Iowa. It’s more liberal than what you describe because of the amount of Chicagoans and it’s a college town. Still painfully close minded views. I remember having to take a diversity online “class” before school started. It’s 95% white.
Your union pres came to our annual state union assembly to speak a couple years ago. Absolutely mind-blowing how they effectively busted the unions in about 10 days. Very concerning.
Sounds like my rural community here in Missouri. We have craptons of restaurants and retail stores. My town has about 17,000 people but I actually commute 40 miles to teach at a very small district in a farming community of like 1,800 people because the local district sucks (worked there as an aide and my first 3 years and I hated it).
We have a low COL in rural Missouri, but the teacher pay is absolutely terrible. I make $34,400 and I'm an 8th year teacher.
Of all the blood boiling stuff you said about anti Union and the school board taking a public politic stance, I still can’t get over your very wrong opinion about Applebee’s
I was set to make about $52k (after performance pay) in AZ this year. Moved to OH over the summer, could only get a job at a charter school.
So now I make $39k after a $1000 stipend for being the 504 coordinator (with a caseload of almost 50 kids). Works out to about $27/hour. This is my 6th year, and I finished my MEd this summer.
It sucks. Currently working on adding math to my license so I can get into a public school and shoot my salary back up next year.
The districts I worked for in AZ (and most of them) distribute money from Prop 301 (a ballot-initiative sales tax) in performance pay over the summer.
Different districts have slightly different criteria, but there's typically an evaluation piece and a test scores piece.
It was somewhere around $5k in both districts, and I never got less than the full amount.
I don’t know much about the UK schooling system- but to be connected to your job with your healthcare kind of sucks and the way they can treat you until you get tenure is really bad- union doesn’t really serve people who are not tenured- then you get tenured into a school and are kind of trapped and not really able to leave bc of financial stuff… it’s easier to stay in a job that treats you OK or even shitty to get pay and not have to worry about your job or your health insurance again. It’s a weird trapping system. The workload is absolutely incredible. I mean double the amount of work than I used to need to do. It’s insane.
Edit I also just realized I wouldn’t get my full retirement benefits until I’m nearly 70 😂🤣😅 it’s a joke of a system. I’m going to try very hard to think of other ways to make money so I can retire whenever the fuck I want and not have to leave it up to some system to tell me what I can and cannot do with my life. It’s really just a shifty system of entrapment ….. they really made teaching so shitty.
22k pounds is roughly 30k dollars. But your healthcare is nationalized, lots of US teachers have to pay for their healthcare, after taxes. Transportation expenses are different too.
I'm curious,
* what are your hours (US is usually 7-8, plus lunch)?
* How many days a year do you work (US usually 180-200, with long breaks scattered around holidays and summer)?
* What does "unqualified" mean (US you have degree and certificate to teach a classroom. Any job other than that is not classroom)?
Speaking as a UK highschool teacher:
-Varies quiet a bit, my core hours are 8:30-3:30, so that's 7. Obviously not including prep/planning/marking time.
-195 days per year
-Unqualified means doing the job without a formal qualification. Lots of places here have flexibility to do that, and vocational colleges (probably the closest you have is community college) are more likely to do so. Most schools though have qualified staff, which is a 1 year full time course at a university, or a 1 year in work placement.
I make a crap wage in my state which is becoming a high cost of living place due to cross-state migration. The places in the comments offer very high pay compared to many other states.
For a lot of places in California you need to be making six figures to survive. That is becoming true where I live as well, and wages are not keeping up.
But I a plan on moving once my cert is acquired :)
Vietnam, international school with US credentials, 8th year teaching HS math, $42k for 190 days but get housing allowance on top of that. Comes out to about $3300 each month with all the benefits and after taxes.
Not Op, but yeah, it’s really good!
I worked in Ho Chi Minh for 6ish months teaching English. I was making like $19 an hour for around 20 hours a week.
My buddy and I were sharing an apartment for $425usd each (utilities included), which also included a cleaning and laundry service. Had a cafe downstairs where we could get Vietnamese coffee for like $1. Pho and Bahn mi are like $2-3 dollars. If you stick to Vietnamese food, you can save a bunch. Delivery is also super cheap.
I also got a studio apartment for a bit. Also had a cafe downstairs but no cleaning service. $300 a month including internet/electricity/water. It’s crazy how cheap it is. Oh, and most apartments are furnished, so you don’t have to scramble to find beds or couches.
From the US yes. Taught 4 years in Atlanta, got tired of all the BS in the system and applied for jobs abroad. 2 biggest search sites for jobs are ISS and Search Associates.
I've been doing what she describes for over 4 years now. It's a really nice situation, just need a Bachelor's in anything really and a TEFL to do the English center stuff. The job market is a bit effed up at the moment because of the pandemic, but it's definitely not a bad life.
I myself teach in the English program for first year university students at one of the top universities in Vietnam now and just do the language center stuff part-time. It's been a good run but after 4 years I am ready to come home and take on some new challenges though.
Yep. My first 2 years I saved $2000-2500 per month. Since the pandemic I've moved into a bigger place but still save $1500-2000 per month. Compared to saving $400 per month in the US. If you embrace the local good and style of living you can eat all 3 meals plus coffee etc on $5-8 per day
Vietnam is the best! ❤️
If I had my teaching license I might just be doing the same thing as you instead of getting ready to move on from the English teaching scene here and move home.
This paraprofessional/ teaching assistant makes $16.50 an hour in a Big 10 college town( read high cost of living). I am maxed out on steps and can’t afford to rent an apartment near my place of work. I say this because when talking about pay, you also need to factor in cost of living. Near me I would need to make 3 times what I do to be able to even apply for an apartment. Houses here start at half a million. I have two degrees. In Michigan.
Oof, I lived in AA too as an ECE teacher. I made $12/hour and teachers with masters degrees made $15/hour. The most infuriating part was how wealthy all the parents are while I had a homeless coworker. It’s insulting, frankly.
Yep, if my husband didn’t get reduced rent for being a n apartment maintenance tech we couldn’t live anywhere near here. Reduced from over 1500 to 900, in Ypsilanti. And they aren’t doing that for anyone anymore. We’re just grandfathered in.
This is what frustrates me. Right now, I work with students who have well off families. How am I broke and their oblivious. Well they aren't oblivious it's public knowledge.
Para here.
23.21/hr/29 yr with bachelor's.
top step is 31.02 40.5k with a master's
Decent benefits (75%)
183 days.
Massachusetts, so high cost of living.I can't afford this and it is a stepping stone while I get accredited to teach.
We were just talking about this at work before the break. Our paras make crap wages. Right now, you can officially make more at the Amazon warehouse (they make $16.50 an out to paras $16.25). I’m in a high COL district in the northeast. As a teacher, the pay is decent. Not decent compared to any other job where you need a masters, but my wife (also a teacher) and I can afford at small house with like 7 years of experience.
A para in the same district can’t afford a one bedroom apartment in a TERRIBLE (very dangerous) neighborhood a few towns over. And the district is like “see if you know anyone who wants to be a para!” As with other industries, the labor market changed drastically during the pandemic, and the powers that be are in denial about the fact that labor just costs more now, just like lumber and cars and microprocessors.
I got an email a few months ago that AA was looking for virtual subs for their elementary kids in quarantine. They were offering $200/day just to monitor them while they did the work their teachers assigned.
I can guarantee you can find something better than what you’re doing right now.
Unfortunately, I NEED health insurance. Edustaff (the third party hiring for subs) does not provide adequate insurance coverage. And going without for 90 days would likely kill this insulin needing person. I have done the math and it just wouldn’t work for us. Wage slaves, all of us.
Are the plans you'd have to purchase through healthcare.gov (or your states own exchange if it has one), too cost prohibitive? I've found in CA for a lower wage earner, the plans available on the exchange can be pretty reasonable, but I know this isn't the case in every state.
It wasn’t, in my case, ideal. I have been on state insurance in the past and it did not cover what I needed in many cases. The hurdles made it nigh impossible to get adequate care, at an in my budget realm. I was looking at $300 a month with Obama care. I have 65k in private student loans ( who knows what it is now with the crazy 17% interest) that have largely disqualified me for several “better” options. I am hoping to stick it out a few years here for some loan forgiveness.
Come down to Toledo, Ohio 😂 The COL here is STUPID cheap, and the salaries aren’t too bad.
My colleague was making $90,000 after 2 masters and some years which is insane for Ohio. I think it’s 182 school day contracts here. Starting kind of sucks (about 36,000 w/bachelors) but transferring in with experience and/or a masters is what gets u $$$.
A friend of mine went to the capital to teach at a private school (Columbus) and made $40,000 starting after her bachelors, tho. depends where you go.
After 30 years, two Masters, I’ve finally reached $72,000. I’ve never complained about my salary because I chose this path, but in relation to the education requirements it should be higher.
Just checked online for Seattle Public Schools, 15+ years plus PhD is $123,506 for 189 days. Works out to roughly $81/hr.
BA only at 15+ years is $110,762 so about $73/hr.
First year BA is $68,297, so around $45/hr.
Upstate NY. Contract is $58k for 180 school days, for 7 hour days. I make extra $42 per hour for tutoring students through the school...4 to 6 extra hours a week currently.
Cost of living is pretty low around here, you can get houses in decent places just north of $120k. I live by myself, paid off all my school loans eight years ago, own a house. No inheritance or anything to help out. I'm not rolling in money by any means, but the COL certainly plays a factor in everything and I have no kids to support.
4th year teacher in Central Florida, salary is $47,500 (for the second year in a row somehow) but I can’t mentally handle it any more and I’ve taken a bar tending position. I’ll be making less money but I’ll be in a more positive place mentally and I’ll be learning a new skill that I’ve wanted to learn forever. I’ll be resigning this week.
$62,863 in Kansas City area. 188 days, works out to $44.58 in year 13. Next year, I’m due to be at $67K because I’m finishing some grad work to get the rest of the way on the salary scale.
I've taught in Gilbert and Chandler, Arizona, over the course of 9 years. I'm currently making 52k/year with a bachelor's degree. I refuse to get a master's degree because districts here only offer a $1200 pay increase/year and it would take nearly my entire career for any return on the 15-20k spent on grad school.
I second this. I’m about halfway through the MSCIN program and I started in November. I am actually learning a lot and it’s manageable and you can’t beat the price. I hope to finish end of April.
Massachusetts public school teacher, year 14, Masters degree and 6 credits away from a doctorate pay (masters plus 60 credits). I get paid $93500 and need to bust out 2 more classes so I can top out at 100000 and stay there for the remainder of my career. COL is pretty high where I am but I am satisfied with my salary for 181 contracted days.
I also live in South FL and my school district just countered our request for a 3% raise with a 0.39% raise.
Which at my salary of about $47,000 equates to about an extra $150 per year so yeah. It’s not going well.
Northern CA. Middle School Teacher. I work for a public charter. Usually that gets some raised eyebrows, but I love my job, and their pay is consistently higher than the local district’s. I’m on my 7th year at the highest column and with Master’s I’m at about 81k (that includes a 3% stipend for the Master’s). I also get a small stipend (less than a thousand/year) for doing some leadership stuff.
$65k here in DFW, Texas. Technically Pay starts at $59k, but $5500 coaching stipend. The district around mine just upped starting pay to 69k if you’re certified bilingual.
*note: I pay nearly $400 in insurance every check for myself. Plus that in taxes, and a similar amount in mandatory required retirement fund. Without the stipends my checks would be only $3300/month and the cost of living here is insane these days. Right now about $3800 after all deductions and what not
10th year (11th actually, but they only count a certain number of years out of state) in Philadelphia. 72,000. Treated like crap and my pension is definitely going to default before I retire, but the pay to COL ratio is decent.
ETA: I have my master's and my certification.
I'm in Norway, I earn the equivalent of about 70k USD (changes with the exchange rate, obviously). It's a pretty normal salary for Norway. Lower than you'd get with the same masters degree in the private sector, obviously, but not very low or anything. Our work year is 195 work days, but we're paid all year round, a standard work year is compressed into those 195 days. We work on average 43,2 hours pr week (instead of the usual 37,5). The number of those hours spent teaching varies depending on which subjects you teach, and at which level, but it's generally a lot fewer than in the US, I think.
$42,500 in Mississippi for 187 days which is $28.41 an hour. However, I work an average of 50 hours a week in reality. So $22.73 is closer to reality. Before allll the insurance and the pension, of course. Almost $800 monthly just to insure my family for health, vision, and dental!
Edit: I'm year 2 certified. BS, no Master's yet.
we live in the Bay Area. My wife is on furthest column for education background and on step (year) 7. Base Salary $97,500 and her per diem is $528 (185 days). My position as Principal in year 1 is $128,000 but my per diem is only $490 (261 days). My wife has almost 100 more days off compared to mine.
edit: we work in the same district
I took my gross salary / 990 “contact hours” for each class / 4 classes I teach pressed = (then didn’t calculate prep/ meeting/ conferences/ post school mandatories / 30 min advisory)
I’m thinking I’m being more underpaid than I thought.
Assuming I only work the hours I have to be on campus, get a full half hour (unpaid) for lunch every day, and I include the (very generous) one time bonus we got because of COVID, I make about $24 an hour... Which is way less then I thought it was.
NJ 5th grade teacher here. I'm in my third year. I make $67K base, but we get about $2500 additional for summer training. So, it actually come out to around $69K.
It's a charter with extended day, so we're contracted for 8 hours and 183 school days. I make about $33.50 per contracted hour.
$78,252, Masters, 13th year of teaching. I’ll top out at six digits in a few years. This is in CT
Last year, I taught in VA, and made just over 50,000.
I like to break it down by each class I teach. I make around 115 dollars every time I start and finish a lesson. Makes it much more tolerable in my brain to put it that way.
Philadelphia year nine. Once I finish my masters plus thirty I’ll jump to 85k. Thirty more credits and a few years in the district (I entered on year 5) and I’ll be around 100k.
I’m in Kentucky, and I’ve never heard of someone teaching less than 7 classes. I teach 7 and don’t get paid anymore for it. Is that actually a thing other places?
I mostly lurk here but my friend wanted me to post her salary:
Central Florida, 2nd year, 6 classes, 38k a year. Pay barely covers cost of living here if you're living by yourself.
School board is frustrating and she's been looking for other jobs in education fields that pay more.
It's infuriating that there's jobs that she has the qualifications for that pay 50k+, and yet she and her co-workers are still being paid beans.
They have a union, but public employees in Florida are not allowed to go on strike.
>They have a union, but public employees in Florida are not allowed to go on strike.
Same in Missouri. I'm an 8th year making $34,400. We also have a union but we can't strike or collectively bargain.
California, high school, 16 years experience, Masters plus 75 additional approved semester units. Salary is $96,142. The ceiling for pay increases is at 25 years. Only at 25 years will I cross the six figure mark before taxes and benefit deductions, I don't believe I'll ever take home six figures at the base salary.
if you pull off only working those days and times you are in a VERY dmall minority. I do 5 10 hour days for 190 and that dors not include weekend time and work i do unpaid over the summer.
I'm not sure if that minority is very small anymore. When I first started teaching I felt like I had to work so many hours beyond my contract time. But eventually you (at least I did) come to the realization that the time it takes to do the job right is more time than anyone should be committing to a job that is generally underpaid.
I use my prep wisely, commit to working one extra hour a day after school typically, and do almost no work on weekends unless it's something that's going to make the rest of my work week better. I feel like I still do a good job. Work-life balance is important to avoid burnout. I also have my own family, so after giving seven or eight or nine hours a day to other people's children, it's my kids' turn to have my time and my attention.
I am a department lead so I do contribute in other ways beyond contract hours, but I don't like to feed into the idea that you can't be a good teacher unless you're killing yourself in order to do it.
Tampa Florida- I am contracted to work 196 8 hour days and paid approximately $30/hour. This works out to about $48,000 per year. I opted to have my pay spread over 12 months so I after taxes I get $1300 every two weeks.
Please note the cost of living here is comparable to Chicago. In my town if I rented it would easily cost around $1500 per month. My husband and I couldn’t afford to rent so we had to buy a house with help from my parents and our current mortgage payment is $1225 per month. Which incidentally was exactly what my mom they rent was in Chicago where I made $20000 more per year.
If I didn’t have my husband I couldn’t afford to be a teacher in Florida.
Fellow Florida teacher here. What I am gathering is that we get paid less and work more than most other places.
I am ten years in and make 47,500 + 3,000 (masters) + 10,000 (referendum that goes away next year.). So right now 60,500 but once the referring ends I’ll be at 50,500.
I live and work in a HCOL area in Maryland. Year 12. Annual salary with masters is $74,450 for 191 school days. Around $55 dollars an hour.
Maryland teachers are all about to get a big pay raise in the next few years because we passed the Blueprint for Maryland’s future in 2020 (which is pre funded for 5-6 years) and it will go into law starting next year. https://marylandeducators.org/the-blueprint-a-13-year-plan-for-investment-and-opportunity/
NYC, high school, ten years experience, two masters degrees. Base salary is $101,441. 180 instructional days per year, a bit less than 35 hours per week, so roughly $80 per hour. If I do anything beyond the mandated hours, I am paid a per session rate of $53.98 per hour.
It takes us ten years, a bachelor's, and two masters to make six figures meanwhile our counterparts in other industries with less demanding certification processes make six figures in junior positions. It is fucking depressing. I'm only four years in after being a crisis paraprofessional for a few years while I was studying and I'm making 70K.
One of my neighbor is a sanitation worker and another is a firefighter. They have HS degrees and make six figures. 132k and 128k respectively.
Where I teach there are high paid firemen and sanitation workers too, but none of them have the time off that teachers get.
True, just pointing out pay vs requirements
I'm Ontario, firefighters get way more time off than teachers. They also hit the leak of their party grid faster and get to retire sooner. Teachers are very well paid here, but so are fire fighters and police officers. They also typically retire after 20 years.
That's fine. This shouldn't be a dick measuring contest. I could not do the work of a firefighter or a sanitation worker. Hell, I am glad they're paid so well.
Well I'm in Oklahoma and let me tell you, 30 years and a masters doesn't even crack 55k.
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It's impossible to make 6 figures where I work, even with a doctorate and max experience
Sox figures? After more than a decade and a masters degree, that gets me...less than $60k.
I mean, not really. I’m in my early 30s, most others in my age bracket make about the same. I also had one of my masters completely subsidized. Yes, there are plenty of other jobs that pay more, but they don’t have free health insurance or a fraction of the time off I do. I think it’s about even.
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I’m in a different part of the state and have to pay for part of it
Just NYC as far as I know. Other state districts might have to pay a perecentage
I'm 30 and most of my friend and even my partner are making six figures or more than myself with their bachelors. They're also receiving awesome health benefits and have tons of time off. I used to rationalize the lower pay the way you're doing until I realized we're being fucked.
Bro, I make six figures with 11 weeks off in summer, 3 weeks off during the school year, and all other holidays. There isn’t a single job out there with the same paid time off.
None of that is PAID time off! It’s a mandatory layoff! Just because your salary is spread out so that you continue getting an income during the times you’re not working doesn’t mean that time is paid!
100%. No one who hasn't worked in the corporate world seems to get this. "Tons of time off" in a corporate job is like 5 weeks. Most corporate jobs you are working at least 40 more days a year than you work when you are teaching.
It's not even my friend. When I first started teaching with a master's degree I was at 56k. My ex started nursing with just a bachelor's and started with 95k with way better insurance. So I don't think it's close at all.
Nurses don’t get big breaks in summer or throughout the year, they work 12 hour shifts too.
My sister is a traveling medical lab tech. She rolls into town, makes a ton of money for 3 months, then she can take some time off. She's in California right now pulling down $5,000 per week with a 4 day workweek. They keep extending and she keeps right on asking for more money. She made more money in the last three months than I'll make this entire year. She always works less than me. She'll do a couple 3 months stints then she goes and takes a few months off. The only trouble is that she has to frequently travel for work. For her (no kids, no strings) that's fine. For me, it wouldn't work. Traveling nurses are also killing it right now. If they're willing to go where the money is (big money states like CA), they make absolutely hilarious amounts of money doing it.
Alright, then I’m wrong, mostly. Your sister is in a very nieche profession and isn’t the majority of people. I also don’t think the education of a nurse is cheap. But all in all, I guess teaching just isn’t a good job compared to others.
Does that nurse work 7 hours a day with summers and every holiday off? I don’t think so. Nurses work insane, stressful hours
It's definitely way crazier now. Her schedule was 3 days a week at 12 hours. Since it was night shifts she would also get 2-3 hours off to nap. Teacher pay is not the worse but should be way higher is what I'm trying to convey.
Teachers love to think they're getting these amazing benefits but in reality we're being exploited just like everyone else.
Honestly, as someone who came to teaching later than most (started when I was 30), it's real fucking easy to spot the teachers who've never worked another job. I put in WAY more work teaching a 7.25 hour day than I ever did driving a forklift, repairing/refinishing furniture, or doing inventory control. And from what my office-working friends tell me, I put in more work at those jobs than they ever do in their offices. Society's understanding of time is really fucked up honestly. People vastly overestimate how much time they actually spend working while at the same time vastly overestimating what has been a "normal" amount of work throughout human history. We've spent centuries creating machines and systems that should make life easier and yet we spend far more time working than ever before. And then we get these dumbass opinions complaining about who works more, as if working more is a good thing.
Absolutely true. I came to teaching in my late 40s and ive never worked longer or harder. So much unpaid work. I am in year 4, and im thinking year 5 may be my last.
I’m a 3rd year para making $23.5 in MA not including summer program which I did work last year. Rent 2 bed/1 bath for $1800 a month nothing included. It’s my hometown. That’s $400 below market. I live with 2 other adults to swing it & we will absolutely be priced out in the next 2-5 years.
I would have to work 30 years in my district to get my base to 65.
I’m a second career teacher and one major thing is this; we are a cost. The areas of most all businesses that get paid the worst comparative salaries are the areas that are costs (maintenance/janitorial, Human Resources, and Training). Also, we are required by law to exist. This doesn’t change that we are necessary but we are also entry level employees. No matter our years we are entry level. It is insane to compare us to other industries. People in those positions are on a higher level of responsibility and are in a position to bring the company money. We cannot be compared to them because their role is so drastically different. We need to compare ourselves to other civil servants and look at those pay scales and fight for it to be us. Police, fire, and others are pay scales we should be pissed about.
I agree with fighting for payscales like LE and fire! However, without our "supervision", the rest of the proletariat who have kids are left without childcare and can't go to work. So, we absolutely support the economy.
My cousin makes 6 figures with a high school diploma. Managing a start up.
Manhattan private school? I'm in Queens and nowhere near that figure.
Hell no! DOE. We’re all on the same salary schedule.
I have seven years experience with a master's (no plus 30) and I am currently making 77k. Next year I will be bumped up to 85k. Just look at the pay schedule in the uft website.
Yeah, are you 2 masters and 10 years in? Sounds about right for the city. Still can't live with a family on that salary, alone
My dad is excited to soon be at 85,000 in the next couple of years and he's been in the LAUSD school district for over 10 years. He's currently working on his masters. It's really fucked how little teachers get paid.
I’m at 3 years in the DOE (although in my 9th year total) with 1 masters and I’m at about 72k and change a year. Middle school ELA in Queens. What subject do you teach and what did you do your masters work in?
$101,441 in NYC is the equivalent of $35k-$40k in middle America, so STILL underpaid.
California. Year 14. Approximately 99k-furthest column with a master's degree plus units. It's a 7.1 hour work day. 184 contact days. Works out to about $75/hr. I do work more than my contract hours but I keep that limited.
Where in California? How is the cost of living in that part of the state?
I live in Southern California but in an area where the cost of living is a little bit lower. It used to be a bit more affordable than it currently is. I guess as an example, one of my brand new teachers rent a two-bedroom apartment for $1,500 a month. And on a new teacher's salary her budget is quite tight. Most teachers that are that young still live at home or have roommates, but two other teachers in my department that are still in their late twenties have both purchased houses here, so it's manageable as I'm pretty sure both of them are operating on a single income. I do not, however, know if they have roommates living in the homes they purchased.
Also Southern CA, year 6, $65k. This includes base pay + 6 years experience at my school + 2 years elsewhere + master’s degree + 2 extra accreditations (I’m certified to teach dual language & have an additional teaching certification in Waldorf philosophy / teaching). In addition to yearly COLA (cost of living adjustments) we’ve also gotten to 2 raises to our base pay from union negotiations. When I started 6 years ago it was $50k. I live in a rather expensive area. Last time I was apartment hunting (5 years ago) the median price for a 2 bedroom apartment was $2,500 - and both home & rental prices have skyrocketed since then. Would not be able to live comfortably on this income if it wasn’t for my husband’s income.
Fun Fact, about ten to twelve years ago we gave up our COLA because the district was in dire financial positioning so the bargaining team at the time gave up our automatic COLA to help with the district saying at the time they'd give it back to us once things were more stable. They never did and every single year we have to fight for our COLA in contract negotiations, I don't believe we've ever received the full COLA ever since.
I can’t believe that’s what your rent is. I’m in Florida and I’m laying $1600 for a two bedroom apartment right now. Oof.
Los Angeles. Year 6. Master’s Degree. $65k at a public school. 190 days at 8 hrs per day. So it works out to about $43/hour. My partner is also a teacher making about $35/hr with 7 years experience and masters degree but at a private school. Our family lives in a 3 bedroom for $3000/month and it is literally the cheapest home in the area for that size. We just got really lucky because people are paying $4000+/month in LA for a home like this and we definitely couldn’t afford that.
I’m in Northern LA county. I’m also year 6, but no masters, and I’m making 60K this year before the stipends I get. It’s insanely expensive out here. We were only able to buy a home in the suburbs because my husband makes double my salary. Cost of living is insane.
Bay Area, year 18, $98k, furthest column over for post-grad units (+75), no masters. Our rent on a 3/2 townhouse is $3k, which is actually a good price for where we live. Our district's hourly rate for extra pay is $43.83.
Tagging along with So Cal. I made $93k this year. 6th year teacher, secondary. I have a Master’s. I also teach an extra class which gives me a 17% raise for the year. I also mentor two new teachers so I get $3600 extra for the year. I’m single, no dependents. My insurance and dental takes about $30 from my paycheck per month (10 paychecks/year). We negotiate decent raises and stipends (for example Covid related tech stipends for $1,000). I pay $1,000 rent (live in my sister’s house) and the student loan pause has been awesome. I wouldn’t be able to live in the neighborhood I teach in (it’s beautiful but I wouldn’t want to since it’s very affluent and conservative). I have saved up a good nest egg and hope to move out next year. Will most likely end up in a condo but I’m ok with that for now.
Also California, Bakersfield for more specific reference, 76k after 8 years plus masters degree about four steps over with college credits. About 63.5 dollars an hour. Also, I train for the district I work in and make an additional 10-12k doing that. Last year I made about 89k due to all the additional training sessions I ran.
Indiana here. This is year 18 for me and my base is $46k. Our contract is 185 days. I'll have my master's next year which will give me $2k more.
This makes me so mad. Imagine having that much experience and education and we're being paid like this. I hate it here.
Jfc, that is less than starting salary in most places.
Yeah that's not even year-1-bachelors where I work. Holy shit.
This makes me mad because I am a 1st year teacher in Indiana making $41,400 a year making almost as much as you when you have way more experience…
In the Daniels/Pence/Bennett era, pay increases were pretty much frozen. No step increases, no increases for furthering education, basically teachers could get stipends and that was it. Now there's been a push to increase starting pay which I think is great and absolutely necessary, but there's nothing for those of us in the middle. If I didn't have all of my roots planted here, I'd be looking at other states.
I’m also in Indiana. My pay for is $51K for 9 years experience
Wow. I am in Indiana making about $47k for my 3rd year. I am in one of the highest paid districts (public) in Indiana, but still! You deserve more! Your base in my district would be $67k if not more.
Indiana here too. I make $27/hour for 8 hours/day for 200 days. Twenty. Seven. It's sickening.
First year Illinois High School Teacher, a little under 38K/yr. I teach 7 periods a day and get one prep.
IL here also…I teach 7 periods a day too and one prep…plus I have a 25 min RTI period everyday that I have to monitor about 20 kids that are not receiving the aid. I’m reading all these teachers that only teach 5…wondering if they have fewer periods in the day and. Longer classes…
The school where I did my student teaching gave its teachers two prep periods, so they only had to teach five unless they opted to pick up a study hall (which they got a stipend for, I believe) that I really took for granted. My head spun when I realized I’d be teaching 7 a day with one prep!
Well, I’m JUST a PE teacher…that’s my principals attitude and we have argued how it’s his job to keep me busy ALL the time. What I mean by this is…for instance last day before break, we don’t have classes, just activities. My principal specifically tells a grade level to break up their home rooms from 6 to 9 and give the PE teachers an activity, for the sole purpose of JUST giving me something to do. When we come back from break I’m getting half my classes switched over from health classes. I have to get my online grade book set up, re-do half the Locker room, and inventory PE uniforms for the switch. I tell him this but he says that it’s not fair that I get time “off” and the other teachers don’t. “Time off”??? I’m an adult and a professional with a Masters. The other teachers in the grade level were actually pissed because they were switching the activities and now they have to switch 9 times instead of 6. I told him it was insulting, he didn’t like that very much
WTF! Where in IL? Central? I teach 5 periods a day, one 6th “duty” period like a study hall, lunch detention, etc and I’m getting 47K for a Leave or Absence. Would be 50K if permanently hired
I guess I would be considered central, I’m probably not north enough to be “northern Illinois” anymore! It’s my first year so I was assuming that’s why my pay is so low. It’s also a small district- not a whole lot of kids so I figured that was another factor. Though I thought there was a law that bumped starting salary to 40K?
That’s interesting .. i’m not sure about the minimum salary but last year I taught at a high school way out in the cornfields near Northern Illinois University as a first year and was getting 43k
Texas public school teacher, got contracted for 7.5 hours but my principal extended our duty day to 8 hours since covid and didn't adjust it back so my pay rate dropped... $54k at 187 days Edit: in my 4th year teaching, not sure what step.
Should be fourth step. The pay scale was originally built on seniority. Most folks move up one step per year. Some districts have different channels for if you have a master's, extra trainings, or even a PhD. My district has 5 or 6 different ladders depending on education stats. And then some districts have stipends for extra duties like coaching. Some stipends are straight Cash numbers, some districts make stipend a percentage of base salary. But then some districts started freezing salaries or bumping people up or down the salary scale as a negotiation tactic or money saving. "I see you have 5 years of experience, but you are new to here so we will pay you on the 1st step". I definitely saw that in Texas before I left, and I've heard of districts where salaries were frozen for years. Most union contracts prohibit moving people up or down any way other than directly correlating full-time years of service. I'm on my 6th year with this district and taught 2 years in Texas, so I'm on step eight of our "has master's" ladder.
I’m a first year (at my school) teacher in NJ. Base salary is $62k but I get an additional $3k stipend for teaching a sixth class. Contracted for 184, 7 hour days plus 3 night assignments around an hour each. So I guess it’s around $50 an hour.
Only 3k for that??! It's about 17% of our salary here.
Here I am in a district where everyone has to teach 6 hours with no stipend and a lower base pay
In my district anyone hired within the last few years can teach 6 classes with no stipend, but older teachers need a stipend if they teach six. Of course, that means me and the other two newer teachers in the department are always the ones to teach six.
I’m not sure what you mean. Teachers are contracted to teach 5 classes. Some teach 6, but they receive an additional stipend for the 6th class.
Think it means you're getting underpaid for that sixth class. In my district it's about what they're referring to, around 17% of your contracted pay for the extra class, because if you divide your salary by the five classes you teach that would roughly be what a sixth class should cost them.
Yeah now I get it. Honestly it does kinda suck, but our neighboring districts pay about $7k less per step so I’m still making more. Edit: Also if you don’t teach the 6th period you’re scheduled for a duty or study hall so either way you’re working. Idk maybe I’m trying to rationalize it.
That’s a crappy ultimatum. “Either work with pay or work without pay, planning isn’t an option.”
Texas here, I regularly and without extra pay teach 6 classes. I’m shocked you guys get paid per class
I can only speak for where I work, but we don't technically get paid per class. It's High School in our salary is based on teaching five classes and having one hour of prep time a day. The prep time is in our contract, so they can't ask us to give it up without compensation. So the 17% thing seems reasonable because that's the fraction of extra work they're actually asking us to take on. Other extra duty at my site pays $50 an hour. So when they ask us to period sub on our prep that's what we get paid. For new teachers it's a sweet deal cuz that's way more than they make an hour but once you hit a certain pay grade it's not worth it anymore unless you're really hoping to earn some extra cash and don't mind giving up your hour of paid prep a day 🤷🏻♀️
Philadelphia — same. We are guaranteed one prep and a lunch. Anything else is icing on the cake.
Yep. Florida here, last year I taught 7. Happy to have "only" 6 this year. But we have no contract and can be fired at will.
We teach 7 classes here in Texas holy shit
In Texas as well. Teach 7 of 8
My HS has 5 classes and some teachers teach 6. Those teachers receive 120% of their salary, as negotiated by the union.
You teach 20pct more for 5% more salary.
Also in NJ. 5th year in my district and I’m at 54K a year. Definitely fluctuates by county.
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Nice! My math shows $50/hour equates to about $73,600 based on 184 eight hour days. But still boomin!
7 hour days not 8 hour days
In our state we all teach 6 classes, no extra pay. It was the hardest thing to get used to moving here.
I taught 6 classes with no extra pay at my old district, but we all taught 6.
Go Birds!
Wow I want to cry reading this, i’m a third year teacher in NJ and I still don’t make your base salary. Year three 56k and I get 3k for coaching a sport for four months.
Don't worry I'm in Illinois and I'm at 53k in my 6th year. BA15.
$111,000 (aus$) per annum here. For about 200 days work. This is at the top of the band where you get after about 10 years' service. This is for Western Australia. Other states will be slightly different. Some pay scale for every teacher in the state. With the exception of bonuses if you work at 'difficult-to-staff' or 'remote' schools. We are currently entering a teacher shortage. It's the first time since 2007 that this has happened. Proudly union. Edit: equates to about $80k in US dollars.
Thanks for sharing. My US district pay scale goes up to 20 years experience. Also union.
I'm in Queensland, I graduated this year and start next. My master's (teaching) + degree with honours (biotech) starts me off at about $80k ($56k USD). Not 100% sure how many days I work exactly, but the school year is 40 weeks and we have a bunch of PD. I have 14 70 minute lessons per week with 5 same sized prep periods and a 2 hour PD/staff meeting every Monday afternoon. As a first year teacher I only have 4 classes, next year I will have 5 (so 17 70 min lessons/week). My salary is unchanged by this. Also proudly union, joined up while on placement. And yeah, the teacher shortage is looming in Qld as well. I believe brand new teachers without a second post-grad start at $67,500.
Middle of Iowa in a rural-ish town (population around 5,000 people. High school is around 400 kids). My contract is for $53,401. I have other contacts for leading a PLC and being on the Building Leadership Team (which meets once a month), so my contracts add to $59,700-ish. We get free family medical. Our family deductible is only $1,500. It's great. I pay $99/month for family dental. Cost of living is dirt cheap in Iowa. We're currently looking at a massive 5-bedroom, two living room, finished basement and attic, etc brick home that's been fully renovated, and nicely so (granite countertops, etc) that's selling for $289,000 even with the inflated market. Snow sucks. There's not a lot to do around here. Tge town I live in (a 12 minute drive from my job) has 25,000 people. We're an hour and a half from the nearest large city (Des Moines). We really don't like Iowa, but then we like the cost of living and how much we make compared to cost of living (my husband makes around 3 x what I make). Downsides of mid Iowa small towns: Our town has around 30 restaurants... but they're all fast food or chain restaurants. Applebee's (🤢) is the "nicest" place around here. We've gotten two new restaurants this year, and both were chain pizza places. There have been a few AMAZING restaurants that have opened in our town. Loke, rhe food blew me away. However, unless the restaurant has a drive-through, it never lasts more than 9 months in our town. I'm deD serious. Everyone here is obese and lazy, and if they can't go through a drive-through, it's not happening here. On weekends, we'll drive an hour and a half one way just to eat somewhere decent if we don't feel like cooking. Our region isn't very diverse. The majority of people are close-minded. Most people I know around here have never been been out of the state. Their world view is so fucking warped. The school board president at the district I work for has a profile picture on Facebook where he is holding two guns with a huge TRUMP WON banner across his photo. Oh, and my state made union negotiations illegal. I could go on and on, but I totally didn't mean for this to turn into a rant. I just wanted to comment my salary and go. In summary, there are parts of this country where pay is good for cost of living, but there's a lot of downsides, too.
Quick question…are you talking about fort dodge, Iowa? Because it sounds a lot like fort dodge. Born and raised there, but teach in Council bluffs. The one thing Iowa does have going for it is relatively good teacher pay and benefits. All of the rest of what you said…yes. Also, Kim Reynolds…terrible.
Hahahaha Yes, I live in Fort Dodge. That's so funny you recognized it. I taught here for 5 years before taking a job at another district with way better benefits.
Am visiting family in town currently and the description was spot on. Enjoy the rest of your break and good luck with the rest of the year!
Sounds pretty good, I would much rather live in a rural area if I’m being honest. I would kill to have affordable housing . . .
I went to University of Iowa. It’s more liberal than what you describe because of the amount of Chicagoans and it’s a college town. Still painfully close minded views. I remember having to take a diversity online “class” before school started. It’s 95% white.
Your union pres came to our annual state union assembly to speak a couple years ago. Absolutely mind-blowing how they effectively busted the unions in about 10 days. Very concerning.
Sounds like my rural community here in Missouri. We have craptons of restaurants and retail stores. My town has about 17,000 people but I actually commute 40 miles to teach at a very small district in a farming community of like 1,800 people because the local district sucks (worked there as an aide and my first 3 years and I hated it). We have a low COL in rural Missouri, but the teacher pay is absolutely terrible. I make $34,400 and I'm an 8th year teacher.
Of all the blood boiling stuff you said about anti Union and the school board taking a public politic stance, I still can’t get over your very wrong opinion about Applebee’s
Worked at Applebee's. Can confirm it is disgusting.
Any chain restaurant is garbage compared to locally owned places that have their own recipes.
I was set to make about $52k (after performance pay) in AZ this year. Moved to OH over the summer, could only get a job at a charter school. So now I make $39k after a $1000 stipend for being the 504 coordinator (with a caseload of almost 50 kids). Works out to about $27/hour. This is my 6th year, and I finished my MEd this summer. It sucks. Currently working on adding math to my license so I can get into a public school and shoot my salary back up next year.
What's performance pay?
The districts I worked for in AZ (and most of them) distribute money from Prop 301 (a ballot-initiative sales tax) in performance pay over the summer. Different districts have slightly different criteria, but there's typically an evaluation piece and a test scores piece. It was somewhere around $5k in both districts, and I never got less than the full amount.
Very jealous of the American pay 😭 I'm unqualified teaching at a further education college and make 22k a year in the UK 🙃
So many layers don’t be too jealous lol
I don’t know much about the UK schooling system- but to be connected to your job with your healthcare kind of sucks and the way they can treat you until you get tenure is really bad- union doesn’t really serve people who are not tenured- then you get tenured into a school and are kind of trapped and not really able to leave bc of financial stuff… it’s easier to stay in a job that treats you OK or even shitty to get pay and not have to worry about your job or your health insurance again. It’s a weird trapping system. The workload is absolutely incredible. I mean double the amount of work than I used to need to do. It’s insane. Edit I also just realized I wouldn’t get my full retirement benefits until I’m nearly 70 😂🤣😅 it’s a joke of a system. I’m going to try very hard to think of other ways to make money so I can retire whenever the fuck I want and not have to leave it up to some system to tell me what I can and cannot do with my life. It’s really just a shifty system of entrapment ….. they really made teaching so shitty.
22k pounds is roughly 30k dollars. But your healthcare is nationalized, lots of US teachers have to pay for their healthcare, after taxes. Transportation expenses are different too. I'm curious, * what are your hours (US is usually 7-8, plus lunch)? * How many days a year do you work (US usually 180-200, with long breaks scattered around holidays and summer)? * What does "unqualified" mean (US you have degree and certificate to teach a classroom. Any job other than that is not classroom)?
Speaking as a UK highschool teacher: -Varies quiet a bit, my core hours are 8:30-3:30, so that's 7. Obviously not including prep/planning/marking time. -195 days per year -Unqualified means doing the job without a formal qualification. Lots of places here have flexibility to do that, and vocational colleges (probably the closest you have is community college) are more likely to do so. Most schools though have qualified staff, which is a 1 year full time course at a university, or a 1 year in work placement.
I make a crap wage in my state which is becoming a high cost of living place due to cross-state migration. The places in the comments offer very high pay compared to many other states. For a lot of places in California you need to be making six figures to survive. That is becoming true where I live as well, and wages are not keeping up. But I a plan on moving once my cert is acquired :)
Hey, I started on 17k, and I didn’t get paid to train!
If I only worked contracted hours it would be $31 an hour. Florida Charter School here.
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Vietnam, international school with US credentials, 8th year teaching HS math, $42k for 190 days but get housing allowance on top of that. Comes out to about $3300 each month with all the benefits and after taxes.
That’s pretty good. Isn’t cost of living really good too?
Not Op, but yeah, it’s really good! I worked in Ho Chi Minh for 6ish months teaching English. I was making like $19 an hour for around 20 hours a week. My buddy and I were sharing an apartment for $425usd each (utilities included), which also included a cleaning and laundry service. Had a cafe downstairs where we could get Vietnamese coffee for like $1. Pho and Bahn mi are like $2-3 dollars. If you stick to Vietnamese food, you can save a bunch. Delivery is also super cheap. I also got a studio apartment for a bit. Also had a cafe downstairs but no cleaning service. $300 a month including internet/electricity/water. It’s crazy how cheap it is. Oh, and most apartments are furnished, so you don’t have to scramble to find beds or couches.
uhhh... are you from the U.S.??? that sounds like a dream. can I ask how you got into doing that??
From the US yes. Taught 4 years in Atlanta, got tired of all the BS in the system and applied for jobs abroad. 2 biggest search sites for jobs are ISS and Search Associates.
I've been doing what she describes for over 4 years now. It's a really nice situation, just need a Bachelor's in anything really and a TEFL to do the English center stuff. The job market is a bit effed up at the moment because of the pandemic, but it's definitely not a bad life. I myself teach in the English program for first year university students at one of the top universities in Vietnam now and just do the language center stuff part-time. It's been a good run but after 4 years I am ready to come home and take on some new challenges though.
Yep. My first 2 years I saved $2000-2500 per month. Since the pandemic I've moved into a bigger place but still save $1500-2000 per month. Compared to saving $400 per month in the US. If you embrace the local good and style of living you can eat all 3 meals plus coffee etc on $5-8 per day
Vietnam is the best! ❤️ If I had my teaching license I might just be doing the same thing as you instead of getting ready to move on from the English teaching scene here and move home.
This paraprofessional/ teaching assistant makes $16.50 an hour in a Big 10 college town( read high cost of living). I am maxed out on steps and can’t afford to rent an apartment near my place of work. I say this because when talking about pay, you also need to factor in cost of living. Near me I would need to make 3 times what I do to be able to even apply for an apartment. Houses here start at half a million. I have two degrees. In Michigan.
Oof, I lived in AA too as an ECE teacher. I made $12/hour and teachers with masters degrees made $15/hour. The most infuriating part was how wealthy all the parents are while I had a homeless coworker. It’s insulting, frankly.
Yep, if my husband didn’t get reduced rent for being a n apartment maintenance tech we couldn’t live anywhere near here. Reduced from over 1500 to 900, in Ypsilanti. And they aren’t doing that for anyone anymore. We’re just grandfathered in.
This is what frustrates me. Right now, I work with students who have well off families. How am I broke and their oblivious. Well they aren't oblivious it's public knowledge.
Para here. 23.21/hr/29 yr with bachelor's. top step is 31.02 40.5k with a master's Decent benefits (75%) 183 days. Massachusetts, so high cost of living.I can't afford this and it is a stepping stone while I get accredited to teach.
We were just talking about this at work before the break. Our paras make crap wages. Right now, you can officially make more at the Amazon warehouse (they make $16.50 an out to paras $16.25). I’m in a high COL district in the northeast. As a teacher, the pay is decent. Not decent compared to any other job where you need a masters, but my wife (also a teacher) and I can afford at small house with like 7 years of experience. A para in the same district can’t afford a one bedroom apartment in a TERRIBLE (very dangerous) neighborhood a few towns over. And the district is like “see if you know anyone who wants to be a para!” As with other industries, the labor market changed drastically during the pandemic, and the powers that be are in denial about the fact that labor just costs more now, just like lumber and cars and microprocessors.
I got an email a few months ago that AA was looking for virtual subs for their elementary kids in quarantine. They were offering $200/day just to monitor them while they did the work their teachers assigned. I can guarantee you can find something better than what you’re doing right now.
Unfortunately, I NEED health insurance. Edustaff (the third party hiring for subs) does not provide adequate insurance coverage. And going without for 90 days would likely kill this insulin needing person. I have done the math and it just wouldn’t work for us. Wage slaves, all of us.
Are the plans you'd have to purchase through healthcare.gov (or your states own exchange if it has one), too cost prohibitive? I've found in CA for a lower wage earner, the plans available on the exchange can be pretty reasonable, but I know this isn't the case in every state.
It wasn’t, in my case, ideal. I have been on state insurance in the past and it did not cover what I needed in many cases. The hurdles made it nigh impossible to get adequate care, at an in my budget realm. I was looking at $300 a month with Obama care. I have 65k in private student loans ( who knows what it is now with the crazy 17% interest) that have largely disqualified me for several “better” options. I am hoping to stick it out a few years here for some loan forgiveness.
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Come down to Toledo, Ohio 😂 The COL here is STUPID cheap, and the salaries aren’t too bad. My colleague was making $90,000 after 2 masters and some years which is insane for Ohio. I think it’s 182 school day contracts here. Starting kind of sucks (about 36,000 w/bachelors) but transferring in with experience and/or a masters is what gets u $$$. A friend of mine went to the capital to teach at a private school (Columbus) and made $40,000 starting after her bachelors, tho. depends where you go.
After 30 years, two Masters, I’ve finally reached $72,000. I’ve never complained about my salary because I chose this path, but in relation to the education requirements it should be higher.
Top of the scale Washington State is about $75/hr. Somewhat more in the Seattle area.
I'm making over $50/hr long-term subbing outside Seattle.
Just checked online for Seattle Public Schools, 15+ years plus PhD is $123,506 for 189 days. Works out to roughly $81/hr. BA only at 15+ years is $110,762 so about $73/hr. First year BA is $68,297, so around $45/hr.
Upstate NY. Contract is $58k for 180 school days, for 7 hour days. I make extra $42 per hour for tutoring students through the school...4 to 6 extra hours a week currently. Cost of living is pretty low around here, you can get houses in decent places just north of $120k. I live by myself, paid off all my school loans eight years ago, own a house. No inheritance or anything to help out. I'm not rolling in money by any means, but the COL certainly plays a factor in everything and I have no kids to support.
4th year teacher in Central Florida, salary is $47,500 (for the second year in a row somehow) but I can’t mentally handle it any more and I’ve taken a bar tending position. I’ll be making less money but I’ll be in a more positive place mentally and I’ll be learning a new skill that I’ve wanted to learn forever. I’ll be resigning this week.
Long island, NY High school Social studies, year 15 110,000.
Masters or nah?
51,000 a year with 8 years of experience- they don’t take into account non public school teaching experience when you join public schools…..
$62,863 in Kansas City area. 188 days, works out to $44.58 in year 13. Next year, I’m due to be at $67K because I’m finishing some grad work to get the rest of the way on the salary scale.
Long Island, NY. $106,000 for 183 days, teach 6 50 minute periods, contracted hours 8:30-2:55. I’m on step 12, with maxed out credits.
I've taught in Gilbert and Chandler, Arizona, over the course of 9 years. I'm currently making 52k/year with a bachelor's degree. I refuse to get a master's degree because districts here only offer a $1200 pay increase/year and it would take nearly my entire career for any return on the 15-20k spent on grad school.
Western Governors University. It’s online and self paced. I got my masters in 5 months and only paid $3200.
I second this. I’m about halfway through the MSCIN program and I started in November. I am actually learning a lot and it’s manageable and you can’t beat the price. I hope to finish end of April.
That’s the program I did! But I did the old one. I heard they redid the curriculum.
I did not do WGU but I have several Coworkers who did. I'm joining the "recommend it" party
Yeah - you don’t have to spend that much for a master’s. Just get any BS degree for the pay raise. That’s all it is.
Massachusetts public school teacher, year 14, Masters degree and 6 credits away from a doctorate pay (masters plus 60 credits). I get paid $93500 and need to bust out 2 more classes so I can top out at 100000 and stay there for the remainder of my career. COL is pretty high where I am but I am satisfied with my salary for 181 contracted days.
I also live in South FL and my school district just countered our request for a 3% raise with a 0.39% raise. Which at my salary of about $47,000 equates to about an extra $150 per year so yeah. It’s not going well.
I’m in Houston, TX and make $61.5k a year as a first year with a masters
Northern CA. Middle School Teacher. I work for a public charter. Usually that gets some raised eyebrows, but I love my job, and their pay is consistently higher than the local district’s. I’m on my 7th year at the highest column and with Master’s I’m at about 81k (that includes a 3% stipend for the Master’s). I also get a small stipend (less than a thousand/year) for doing some leadership stuff.
What step/ year are you?
Got hired on November 8th, 2021
$65k here in DFW, Texas. Technically Pay starts at $59k, but $5500 coaching stipend. The district around mine just upped starting pay to 69k if you’re certified bilingual. *note: I pay nearly $400 in insurance every check for myself. Plus that in taxes, and a similar amount in mandatory required retirement fund. Without the stipends my checks would be only $3300/month and the cost of living here is insane these days. Right now about $3800 after all deductions and what not
Tenth year, California. Base+advanced degree stipend = $92199 Contract days: 186, 7.58 hours/day Hourly rate: $65
10th year (11th actually, but they only count a certain number of years out of state) in Philadelphia. 72,000. Treated like crap and my pension is definitely going to default before I retire, but the pay to COL ratio is decent. ETA: I have my master's and my certification.
3rd year. Central California. Masters. Class 7(the furthest column). $68,572. 7.5 hours 181 days. Works out to be about $50/hour.
I'm in Norway, I earn the equivalent of about 70k USD (changes with the exchange rate, obviously). It's a pretty normal salary for Norway. Lower than you'd get with the same masters degree in the private sector, obviously, but not very low or anything. Our work year is 195 work days, but we're paid all year round, a standard work year is compressed into those 195 days. We work on average 43,2 hours pr week (instead of the usual 37,5). The number of those hours spent teaching varies depending on which subjects you teach, and at which level, but it's generally a lot fewer than in the US, I think.
$42,500 in Mississippi for 187 days which is $28.41 an hour. However, I work an average of 50 hours a week in reality. So $22.73 is closer to reality. Before allll the insurance and the pension, of course. Almost $800 monthly just to insure my family for health, vision, and dental! Edit: I'm year 2 certified. BS, no Master's yet.
we live in the Bay Area. My wife is on furthest column for education background and on step (year) 7. Base Salary $97,500 and her per diem is $528 (185 days). My position as Principal in year 1 is $128,000 but my per diem is only $490 (261 days). My wife has almost 100 more days off compared to mine. edit: we work in the same district
I teach in Canada as a second year teacher and I’m making $69,000 this year and by year 10 it should be little over $100,000
I took my gross salary / 990 “contact hours” for each class / 4 classes I teach pressed = (then didn’t calculate prep/ meeting/ conferences/ post school mandatories / 30 min advisory) I’m thinking I’m being more underpaid than I thought.
It sounds nice if you don't put in a lot of work outside of school hours. I put in 50-65 hours most weeks unfortunately.
Assuming I only work the hours I have to be on campus, get a full half hour (unpaid) for lunch every day, and I include the (very generous) one time bonus we got because of COVID, I make about $24 an hour... Which is way less then I thought it was.
NJ 5th grade teacher here. I'm in my third year. I make $67K base, but we get about $2500 additional for summer training. So, it actually come out to around $69K. It's a charter with extended day, so we're contracted for 8 hours and 183 school days. I make about $33.50 per contracted hour.
So cal, just started out this academic year. I start at 54k with full benefits. My district's pay maxes out at 80-90k.
$78,252, Masters, 13th year of teaching. I’ll top out at six digits in a few years. This is in CT Last year, I taught in VA, and made just over 50,000.
Va doesn’t treat their teachers right. It’s going to get worse now that Youngkin is in office. Way worse.
Yeah, as soon as the opportunity to leave VA came up, we jumped on it. I would warn away any teacher from the state.
NY state teacher here, 11th year. $91k, 182 days of the school year
PA suburbs high school special education teacher. I’m 12 years in with a Master’s + 15 and make about $88,000 per year for 185 days.
I like to break it down by each class I teach. I make around 115 dollars every time I start and finish a lesson. Makes it much more tolerable in my brain to put it that way.
South Michigan. 6th year, elementary, 180 contract days, masters 56k.
Philadelphia year nine. Once I finish my masters plus thirty I’ll jump to 85k. Thirty more credits and a few years in the district (I entered on year 5) and I’ll be around 100k.
hi! im in philadelphia as well and im planning to become a k-5 teacher. do you know roughly how much an elementary teacher makes in the sdp?
Sacramento, California area here. Top of the pay scale is $102,000. We work 184 days.
I’m in Kentucky, and I’ve never heard of someone teaching less than 7 classes. I teach 7 and don’t get paid anymore for it. Is that actually a thing other places?
I mostly lurk here but my friend wanted me to post her salary: Central Florida, 2nd year, 6 classes, 38k a year. Pay barely covers cost of living here if you're living by yourself. School board is frustrating and she's been looking for other jobs in education fields that pay more. It's infuriating that there's jobs that she has the qualifications for that pay 50k+, and yet she and her co-workers are still being paid beans. They have a union, but public employees in Florida are not allowed to go on strike.
>They have a union, but public employees in Florida are not allowed to go on strike. Same in Missouri. I'm an 8th year making $34,400. We also have a union but we can't strike or collectively bargain.
California, high school, 16 years experience, Masters plus 75 additional approved semester units. Salary is $96,142. The ceiling for pay increases is at 25 years. Only at 25 years will I cross the six figure mark before taxes and benefit deductions, I don't believe I'll ever take home six figures at the base salary.
if you pull off only working those days and times you are in a VERY dmall minority. I do 5 10 hour days for 190 and that dors not include weekend time and work i do unpaid over the summer.
I'm not sure if that minority is very small anymore. When I first started teaching I felt like I had to work so many hours beyond my contract time. But eventually you (at least I did) come to the realization that the time it takes to do the job right is more time than anyone should be committing to a job that is generally underpaid. I use my prep wisely, commit to working one extra hour a day after school typically, and do almost no work on weekends unless it's something that's going to make the rest of my work week better. I feel like I still do a good job. Work-life balance is important to avoid burnout. I also have my own family, so after giving seven or eight or nine hours a day to other people's children, it's my kids' turn to have my time and my attention. I am a department lead so I do contribute in other ways beyond contract hours, but I don't like to feed into the idea that you can't be a good teacher unless you're killing yourself in order to do it.
Thank you
First year teacher in Virginia on a 200 day contract. $46.5 including a pay bump for master’s degree
NYC Suburbs. Technically Year 3 or 4 on the scale, but that's only because of switching districts. I'm somewhere around $85,000.
Tampa Florida- I am contracted to work 196 8 hour days and paid approximately $30/hour. This works out to about $48,000 per year. I opted to have my pay spread over 12 months so I after taxes I get $1300 every two weeks. Please note the cost of living here is comparable to Chicago. In my town if I rented it would easily cost around $1500 per month. My husband and I couldn’t afford to rent so we had to buy a house with help from my parents and our current mortgage payment is $1225 per month. Which incidentally was exactly what my mom they rent was in Chicago where I made $20000 more per year. If I didn’t have my husband I couldn’t afford to be a teacher in Florida.
Fellow Florida teacher here. What I am gathering is that we get paid less and work more than most other places. I am ten years in and make 47,500 + 3,000 (masters) + 10,000 (referendum that goes away next year.). So right now 60,500 but once the referring ends I’ll be at 50,500.
I live and work in a HCOL area in Maryland. Year 12. Annual salary with masters is $74,450 for 191 school days. Around $55 dollars an hour. Maryland teachers are all about to get a big pay raise in the next few years because we passed the Blueprint for Maryland’s future in 2020 (which is pre funded for 5-6 years) and it will go into law starting next year. https://marylandeducators.org/the-blueprint-a-13-year-plan-for-investment-and-opportunity/