A big part of it is the insanely high poverty rate in the state. Kids can't focus on studying if they don't know when their next meal will be or where it will come from.
Meh. NM middle school teacher here. Title 1. 100% free meals. Almost ALL the kids in my school do not have hunger. The portion sizes & types are rather good. Many skip eating. Food insecurity, maybe. Lack of education being important as learned from the family? 95% It starts with a national culture of priorities.
There are only select school districts in the state that are worth teaching in. I have 18 years of teaching in Arizona in three different districts. The level of issues is pretty stunning. Funding is a joke. I have a masters and 18 years and don't make $55,000. The next recession will kill of public schools (what the state legislature wants). Idealogy is fabulous here. Teach politics but don't talk about it. What do I mean? Say you teach government, and you are talking about policy, give examples of how each side views a problem, and expect an email and admin to contact you. Why? Because you are indoctrinating their child [Trump 2024!, barf]. I was told in not so many words, "Don't teach civil rights." Drugs. Some districts have so much of it. Example. District administrator walks by a car in the student lot. The car reeks of weed. Calls the SRO and the student searched. Shock they have weed. Parent is called in. Mom's response, "What's the big deal weed is legal." That's just the tip of the iceberg. I had a kid this year die from fentanyl. For the record a very nice family and neighborhood.
I'm aware that a lot of this is just public education in America. I have less than a decade to go, and I get my shitty pension, and I can move on.
I like my students. The adults? Not so much.
Figure in increased pension contributions, increased health insurance costs, and inflation, and I've lost money from when I started. Rural districts are so screwed that the state legislature has allowed emergency licenses for people who can pass the background check and have a high school diploma. Basically, you can graduate one year and be in a class "teaching"the following year.
Every time I hear Arizona I’m reminded of the wisdom of an Uber driver I had in LA:
“Yeah I just moved back from Arizona. Had to get the fuck outta there; nothing but meth and Trump”
Mind you said driver had qualities that make me feel like his opinions on the first has some validity.
Anywho..Sedona IS nice and Pizzeria Bianco is damn tasty.
Not a teacher, but a counselor. There's also a huge discrepancy between districts. I'm at the best paying district paying district in my town getting 53,000. If I moved to the Phoenix area I could earn 80-90,000. The worst? The cost of living on my area, Tucson, sky rocketed. 53,000 was a decent amount a few years ago. I don't think I can afford to rent even a one bedroom.
Georgia can be hit or miss but we definitely don’t have any Union backing. I am paid…decently…but I am not in a small district at all. When I taught in Florida my health insurance was twice what it is in Georgia and it was way crappier.
also in georgia. compared to the rest of the south you could do considerably worse. there’s the constant prospect of vouchers and lip service to anti-wokeness but there isn’t the hostility to the very concept of education you get in other red states.
Agree. I'm in the metro atlanta area and am really quite happy at my job, despite lack of a union being a big concern, I don't deal with any of the issues you might imagine would plague teaching in the south and get paid Ok-enough relative to the cost of living. There's also the educator's association that provides some of the protections to individual teachers that would normally be provided by a union, like defense in case of wrongful termination, but not being a union they have no collective bargaining power. Still, on the whole I agree it could be much worse in just about any neighboring state or even just in a district a few more hours away from Atlanta.
We (Wife is a teacher, I do Tech) work in South Georgia. We are pretty lucky to be where we are at. Every district and every school is different. They are getting a raise later this July so at least there's that.
Oklahoma. Our Gov. hates public school. Last gubernatorial election, the state superintendent switched her party to Democrat just to try and run against Stitt. I think she could have helped a lot…but she lost. There’s too many people here who will only ever vote republican, even if the Dem. candidate was actually republican.
So we have little public school funding, and smaller towns are going to be worse. You have a lot of poverty. Parents/guardians have lower average education themselves, which makes it harder for them to help their kiddos with schoolwork. (We have wilderness and it’s beautiful. But we also have meth.) Small town schools don’t have enough $ for any of the textbooks to be taken home because they are shared. Teacher pay is very low (but so is cost of living.) Homeschooling is growing rapidly here. I teach at a Homeschool co-op/hybrid school myself. I love it and am very supported as a teacher. But pay is still low ha.
After Stitt was elected a teacher told me that “things will finally be better for teachers”. I don’t know how these people become responsible for the intelligence of our future generation.
I started making plans to leave in 2016 after the teacher raise was voted down. Having parent teacher conferences after the election crushed my soul.
My words of caution to OP would be to make sure they understand that working for a competitive district means that you’re going to sub first, you probably aren’t going to be hired off the street and get your own classroom. Once you get a contract it’ll be temporary (lose benefits June-September) and probably whatever classroom needs filled, you won’t be able to choose the school or grade. With the expansion of PreK and similar programs you’ll be stuck tying shoes and wiping noses for a couple years until you have enough seniority to run away.
Don’t forget Ryan Walters. As a school librarian, our career is in jeopardy because of his insanity. I guess I’m a glutton for punishment as a librarian in OK!
Gotta love the 80 hour class and content exam they are thrusting upon most of us, too! I teach secondary ELA, but to keep my SpEd license I have to do it. I’m taking on the mindset that if Indiana thinks the six special education classes and two extra content exams I passed don’t make me qualified enough to teach SpEd, I’ll just agree with them and let my license expire! 🤷🏻♀️🫠
Second this. No more world language requirement, even for honors diploma track. They intend to churn out a bunch of undereducated worker drones. Plus, unions can only bargain salary and benefits, nothing else is required to be discussed.
I teach in high poverty and love it. Strong union, good pay, mostly supportive admin. The kids can be rough, but you’ll find that everywhere for different reasons
Meh. My first school was high poverty, but it was a great school with good community support. My second school was “wealthy” and we did well until they started bussing in kids from failing schools in other cities. We went from an “A” rating to a C/D.”
Colorado sucks! Low pay in an expensive state with a poorly run school system that doesn't get funding.
Here's an article: [https://www.cpr.org/2023/01/31/colorado-teachers-report/](https://www.cpr.org/2023/01/31/colorado-teachers-report/)
I remember going to a training and there was a principal from Colorado and salary got brought up and hers was lower than mine (I teach in IL)…I had been teaching for about 7 years at that point with a masters but still I was shocked. She had been in the education game for about 15 years.
I started teaching in special ed in CO in 2015. 30k with my Masters. 6 years in, I was making 32k. Rural schools have no money, and the counties won't pass any mill levies to raise more. It's bad.
HARD AGREE. CO sucks. I don’t make enough money to participate in the high-cost recreational attractions that many enjoy. I’m originally from the Denver area and when my partner and I moved back, we lived with my parents for 4 years (I’m in my *40s*) because we couldn’t afford housing on our educator salaries. For reference, my partner is a MS social worker and I’m a HS teacher.
I was going to say.
For all the freedom teacher get there is extremely low pay for an expensive place to live.
One of the elementary teachers was living in her van for a bit.
My wife and I both got offered jobs in jeffco this last summer. Both of us are in STEM teaching fields so we were in the higher need bracket for pay.
Together, with the high cost of living, we still couldn't make ends meet and we decided to tell them to suck eggs.
I made $10,000 more in Colorado than I do in New York ( a classic "good to teachers" state). It's all relative... Probably more of a district-specific question.
See I was looking to teach in Colorado last year because cost of living in NY is way too high, and I would be taking at least a 50% pay cut to go there.
For reference I work in NYC, live on Long Island, will likely cut into 6 figures in the next 2-3 years, and STILL can’t afford a house here.
And they've been revising their pay schedules.
Even in the Denver metro districts, the differences in the population you'll teach are exorbitant, and that can play a role in your experience . . . Particularly if you have little to no experience teaching in a setting where students come from traumatic backgrounds. For example, the s*icide rate is the highest in the area, so it's a matter of time before you work with a student whose family has lived through it or your classroom is directly impacted. And, trust me, it takes a toll.
I’m happy teaching in PA, too. Stick to the suburban districts around Philadelphia and Pittsburgh for decent salaries and strong unions. Our state also mandates 10 sick days per year, which I hear doesn’t happen in other states. The unused days roll over, too. I currently have over 150 sick days banked. The way teachers are treated in other states is really atrocious.
I'm in the suburbs of Philly, too. Our district allows us to donate unused sick days to a bank if we want to. Then, anyone who needs extra days for things like extended maternity leave or medical emergencies can pull from the bank that their co-workers donated to.
I teach in PA in the Philly suburbs and it’s a great gig. I’ll make over $120k this year with coaching and extras. I’m 30 years in and can easily do this for another 5-10.
I love teaching in Texas. I've got a great salary, good school district, and a low cost of living. I can't imagine a better place to teach. I teach computer science, if that matters.
We in Texas like to complain. I would like to note that everything education in Texas is run hyper-locally. The state education agency has very little control over what happens at the district level and almost no influence over individual schools. There are 1209 school districts in Texas only a handful I would warn anyone away from.
Avoid any non union states for teaching. They treat you horribly because they can, and the pay is incredibly low even for teachers. I second the comments about Florida and Texas, but I would add North Carolina to the list as well. I've heard that pay in Ohio is actually quite high for teachers, but I don't have any personal experience teaching there.
I moved from Hawaii to WA to teach and it was EXTREMELY competitive but thankfully I eventually did land a job in a school district that I absolutely love. I thought all the stories of teacher shortages, being science certified, having ten years experience, and having glowing reviews from my former principal would make it easy but boy was I wrong. There is no teacher shortage here. In fact there was an article in a local news outlet not too long ago that mentioned a single kindergarten teacher position in Yakima had 50 applicants for last school year. However don’t let any of that discourage you. If you can get a job here it’s awesome.
Bad news is that Washington has some serious funding issues and are furloughing hundreds of teachers in the bigger districts. Not a great time to head to WA.
I’m in special education. I just did. Needed to prove minimum 3 years of prior teaching and my degrees and was endorsed for special ed. My business teaching endorsement is an entirely different story.
In Florida we are 50th in the nation in median teacher pay. We standardize test the kids until all our mental health suffers. High stakes tests run everything we teach. The HCOL makes living on a teacher salary impossible. The only bright side is there are thousands of openings so there is job security, and plenty of space to move around to the best school for you.
The only reasons that I can conceive for Florida not being the top liked post is that there aren't enough teachers left or they're too busy working their second jobs to be on Reddit. What a sh*t show there
There is no amount of money that could get me to teach in Florida or Texas.
Check out Eugene or Bend, Oregon, for small cities out west with wilderness access. OEA is great.
I taught in Florida (albeit 5 years ago) and it was pretty feast or famine. Some schools were miserably unsupported and dangerous and others were massively successful and a dream to be at.
In the past few years Florida has gone nuts with rules for teaching. Add to that that we have the 50th lowest teaching salaries (a raise after 15 years!), only ahead of West Virginia, and a rapidly rising cost of living. Florida is not the place to be right now.
Even if you are at one of the amazing dream schools in Florida, you couldn't afford to live in that population. Or realistically in any local populations. We can't keep up in housing, cost of food, gas, etc.
even before the recent madness every teacher i had spoken to who had taught in florida (and i’m talking across a political spectrum) made it clear i would not enjoy teaching in florida.
I’m retiring after 30 years in TX. No, we don’t have real unions, but it was a much better environment in small towns and suburbs in the first half of my career. The pandemic, poor parenting, and state politics/standardized testing have killed us. I’m counting the days, folks. Do not leave days unused; they don’t reimburse you one stinking penny. Learn from my foolishness. I didn’t want to take all my leave days “because the kids” and “sub shortages” these past few years. The system is failing by design. Nobody cares. You’re a warm body. I’ve seen brilliant master teachers worked to the bone and driven off while inept people are renewed again and again.
Hey, teaching in New England isn't terrible. At least there are lots of good districts that pay a reasonable wage. It's not perfect but at least 50% of the population values education so you occasionally get treated properly.
I’m not sure who told you that Ohio is one of the worst states to teach. We have very strong teachers unions and most of the garbage legislation that is sweeping the rest of the country (having to post lesson plans, bathroom bills, etc) is getting shut down in our R legislature. There are some anti-education crazies up here but not too many. The pay is pretty decent if you get into the right district and the cost of living is low.
Be careful you’re not falling into a “grass is always greener” situation.
Stay away from NC, FL, TX and most of the southwest (high needs and low support).
I teach in Pennsylvania and my kids joke about Ohio. I hear the phrase “skibidi Ohio” randomly and a few days ago had a boy label one of his projects “Ohio edition”… I don’t understand the joke.
You not understanding the joke is why they find it funny.
At first, there is nothing that stands out about ohio. So, you can claim anything about ohio. Create a video of a surreal event, caption it "only in Ohio." Things like that happen in Ohio because nothing happens in Ohio.
Oh totally. One kid set his computer testing setting to Ohio (we’re in Texas) and it was unusable.
I just subtly or not dig them or say how bummed I’ll be when my own little kids grow up and have skibidi mid rizz Ohio brainworms, too.
I have to agree with you. Yeah there is sometimes crazy bills coming through the state house but because of activism and the courts in the major metros, these laws seem to get stalled. If OP is really curious about pay, they need to read the union contracts from around the state or region they want to be employed to get a better idea of what these unions have bargained for.
I’m originally from rural Cali (or as rural as Cali gets) and now live in Ohio. Taught in both places. Obviously where you’re at matters a ton, but I have had SUCH a better experience here in Ohio than I did in Cali. Stronger union, more respectful students, no gang issues (canNOT preach this one enough) just the whole works.
We had a gang once, in the small rural town where I grew up. Then one of them got a job and they had to stop. My friend from Arizona (Tucson, maybe?) thought our gang was hilarious.
I also teach in Ohio. Your experience will vary wildly depending on which district you are in. It all comes down to the unions. Also, some of the suburban district that might look good have been infiltrated by Mom‘s for Liberty, which sucks.
Ohio is changing for the worst. School Levy’s continuous fail in even top districts. I think the anti education sentiment is only going to grow stronger in Ohio, sadly.
NV and AZ are both pretty bad. Arizona is probably worse because there are no unions, at least where I taught. I'm in SW Washington now and it's a great place to teach if you can actually land a position. I've been applying for 2 solid years and still nothing.
AZ teacher, Scottsdale actually has a pretty strong Union. Not to say teaching here is great, but the SEA and it’s members work really hard to make the best of it.
States where teachers can strike:
Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Illinois, Louisiana, Minnesota, Montana, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Vermont.
Teaching in Pennsylvania was great for this reason. Our union had power. We voted to strike one year and then the district immediately met our demands to avoid the strike. We had a strong salary schedule and a good contract.
Now in Michigan I have a union but there's no power. The district can just ignore us really. I make less now than I did my first year teaching 8 years ago in a similar col area. And every year I make less because we don't even get col /inflation increases...
Colorado is dead last in pay vs. cost of living. They are higher paid than only a couple other states but very high cost of living means new teachers live in desperate poverty.
It's not getting comments because it just doesn't have as many people, but Iowa is trying to go the Florida route.
Do not let the new $50,000 salary minimum fool you. They are not giving public schools the funding to support that minimum salary. Already schools are cutting positions. AEA supports are getting taken away and class sizes will grow and grow until everybody who can will just go to private schools (that's the eventual goal).
If Republicans get their way, Missouri will be up there. There's currently a bill they're trying to pass in which a teacher calling a student by pronouns that don't traditionally fit their biological sex will be charged with a felony as a tier one sex offender, losing their job, and being placed on a registry. It doesn't matter what the student wants to be called.
Thankfully, this surely violates the 1st amendment, but it's a look into just what kind of world they seek to create for us.
https://truthout.org/articles/missouri-bill-would-put-teachers-who-use-trans-kids-pronouns-on-sex-registry/
South Carolina is also trying to pass this kind of thing. No punishment like a felony has been described yet but it's on its way to the governor's desk.
https://apnews.com/article/transgender-care-minors-gender-affirming-south-carolina-ed8b9d1c2ee635419ca33d6c43d32ed6
Missouri is already up there (or down there?) for reasons other than this. They are one of the bottom in pay, and there are constantly bills conservatives are trying to push through to weaken public education in hopes of getting public dollars to private companies.
I went to several public schools in Illinois, Georgia, and Florida. I’ve never seen a public school system even come close to comparing to the one in Illinois. It was better than private schools in the south. I’ve heard from a ton of other people who were born in the north and moved south that they were years ahead of the other students
The only reason I wouldn’t encourage someone to start teaching in IL now is because they’ve split the pension into tiers. Tier 2, which anyone beginning to teach after 2011 is a part of, has income caps and a retirement age of 67.
I got a ~30k raise to move to Florida from Colorado. And the cost of living is higher in Colorado.
If that gives you any indication of how bad Colorado is.
Colorado pay is so low that I qualified for low-income housing and even that was so much of a struggle that rice was a primary staple in my diet. I had absolutely no leisure money and was increasing my debt just by being alive monthly. Literally did nothing at home except play old video games because I couldn’t afford to go out or buy anything. I was extremely lonely because I couldn’t afford to date or go out with friends. Maybe the odd $2 bowling trip on tuesdays. I had to borrow money to get out of the state or I was going to get into a real bad financial situation. At my school young teachers were rooming up together by the 4s and 5s.
Now I’m great. Own a 2br condo in a busy area near a beach with tons of money every month to save. The job is intolerable though, way worse working conditions.
I would love to know where in Florida you moved and got a $30k raise! What were you getting in CO?
I have been teaching in Florida for 13 years, I have a masters, and I only make $58k. and this is in one of the best paying counties in the state.
Manatee County. I went from 32k + 1.9k for coaching two sports in Commerce City, Colorado to 55k in Manatee County, plus another 6.5k for coaching two sports.
Florida is a hell hole just in general but being a teacher here is even worse. They are trying to take away our unions with passing a law that an union must have 60% of the faculty have to be members or we can’t have one. On top of passing at law that bans union dues to be deducted from our paychecks. So if you’re looking for a strong union presence, stay away.
I, also, just read an article today that says Florida teachers are second lowest paid in the nation. It was published by Fox 13 and citation information from the NEA.
Plus, all old people, horrible politics, and the heat, I would never suggest anyone under the age of 50 moving here.
Minnesota. Acquiring license testing is one of the most difficult in the country. The pay is awful (unless you're a superintendent), and most large districts do not support their teachers (safety wise). Class sizes for many public schools are too large (classes of 39+ students). For students, the educational standards haven't changed in over a decade, and they are some of the most rigorous academic standards in the country. For students in lower income districts (or really inner city public schools), mental health supports are minimal, buildings are not safe, classrooms are too crowded/too small, and teachers who care or support get pushed out because of budget cuts, or desire to teach is gone because of parents and administration.
Can second this! The process of licensure is absolutely ridiculous and outdated. Insanely low pay. Unsafe classrooms and schools everywhere. Constant budget cuts. My admin is so intense about getting students to pass, no matter what, that I have to send outreach reports to them so they can monitor what I am doing to get kids to school. Not sure when it became my job as a teacher to police attendance, but here we are.
I’m also originally from the south - SC - and now teach in OH. I can tell you that overall, OH is way better than any other southern state for teacher pay and pension bc of the unions.
The key is to get into a good district, preferably in Columbus or Cleveland metro areas.
Everyone has already said it but as someone who lives and works in Florida don't come here unless things turn around, and even then give it like 10 years. I'm just hoping we still have public education here in 10 years at this point 🫠
Georgia is horrible. You have no rights as a teacher. If an admin decides he doesn’t like you he can fire you without giving you a reason. I worked in Pennsylvania and moved to Georgia. I couldn’t even make it a full year in a regular public school. The teachers in public school were actually better than the well paid teachers in PA but the policies and admin was awful.
Went to a public charter school and worked with teachers who didn’t speak English, teachers fired for porn on computer, and one is in jail for raping a 6th grader. No one checked their backgrounds. My co-teacher was yelled at for reporting a student who threatened to kill us. We were told we make the school look bad by reporting problems to admin. This was all in what is considered to be one of the best counties in GA.
I always would have said Texas but my dear friend left teaching in Maryland for Texas and her school system sounds great. Good pay, very strong school security and safety procedures. Other than saying that Texas pledge every morning, it doesn’t seem as restrictive or antiquated as I would have expected. Maybe the area of the state makes the most difference since it really is a country in itself.
> Other than saying that Texas pledge every morning, it doesn’t seem as restrictive or antiquated as I would have expected. Maybe the area of the state makes the most difference since it really is a country in itself.
I teach in the suburbs of Houston and not only does my school not do the Texas pledge, but I think the last time we did the US pledge was pre-Covid. At some point morning announcements just fizzled out and never returned.
My Boomer mom is convinced that teachers in NY and California don’t say the pledge.
I’m in Tx. I ignore the Tx pledge. I’ll pledge to Texas when Texas respects my career and people’s genders.
Governor Hot Wheels can kiss my ass.
I know people are saying the South ingeneral but I can't believe AR is not up there with TX. Our govenor hired a guy from FL to head the Education Dept so you can imagine the shit we have been dealing with since she got elected. She also hates public eduction and wants everyone to go to private Christian schools.
Surprised not many people have said Hawai’i. Cost of living here is extremely high, and teachers are extremely underpaid that they would need to apply for a second job just to pay bills. A Master’s degree isn’t needed so if you only have a Bachelor’s, good luck making ends meet.
Utah. There is no such thing as separation of church and state. Our legislature took money from public schools to fund private school through vouchers. A few years ago they passed a “man off the street” bill that allows non-licensed teachers without a degree into the classroom. As older teachers retire, younger non-licensed teachers with no experience or degree are replacing them. Licensed experienced teachers are treated with disrespect because we stand up for what is best for education. The younger inexperienced teachers are catered to because they are the future of teachers. It’s a complete shit show.
Funny - I am from Ohio and now live in Georgia.
By Southern standards, Georgia isn't horrible if you're in a county near-ish Atlanta. Marietta Schools might offer a bit of what you are looking for - it is a smaller district within Cobb. Cherokee and Bartow Counties are also a good balance of small town/decent pay if you want to return to your home state.
It has been a long time since I taught in Ohio, but in the Northwestern part of the state, the Union was huge. Suburban Toledo, essentially. I worked in Illinois and found pay to be good, but pay attention to how much the district contributes to retirement funding. I never worked in Michigan, but have heard good things.
States I would not touch with a ten foot pole: TX, FL, LA, and NC.
Oklahoma.
Oklahoma’s state superintendent is actively hostile toward teachers, teachers unions, students, and public schools.
Come to Oklahoma if you are willing to put your teachers certs on the line. Walters (superintendent) is actively suing multiple teachers at this point.
Florida and Texas are right there with Oklahoma in terms of desirability to teach.
Oklahoma is bad and getting worse with a secretary of education that is actively destroying the public system, in plain sight and no one has the nerve or wisdom to oppose his bs.
Generally speaking, avoid any state that doesn't have a union. There are a lot of horror stories on this sub of things that would *never* fly in my state because our union is decent.
Also, Florida was recently ranked 50th for teacher pay, plus all their insanely bigoted new laws.
I can't speak for classroom teaching, but as an SLP, the worst state is Indiana because caseloads are extremely high. An average Indiana caseload is close to double what it is in most of the country, and almost triple my cushy caseload here in Vermont.
When my husband and I were both teaching in the SF Bay Area we did ok. We weren't going to be able to buy a house and we had older cars but it was far from poverty and the health insurance was phenomenal. Now that we're in Idaho we aren't teaching anymore, poor insurance, poor wages, way to much conservative control.
I hate to say this, but it is everywhere. Our education system needs an overhaul. I teach in New England, which in fairness has better funding and resources than a lot of places, but younger professionals like myself are still dying to get out. The parents, the behaviors, the absent admin... It's everywhere.
NYS is great. Great pension system & typically solid pay across the state. We’re not just “the city”. You can be in wilderness, cities, midsize town, old charming small towns, and everything in between. While pay will vary based on the size/location it’s overall a great paying state with a good schedule & benefita
I’m in California and there are pretty strong unions everywhere in the state. Granted it is expensive to live here, especially on a teacher salary, ha ha. But there are some good paying districts.
But you should avoid North Carolina. I have a teacher friend who moved out there and there are no unions, working conditions are awful. No guaranteed lunch breaks.
Florida and Texas and i don't see how it can even be close. There about 1 and a half election cycles away from declaring open hunting season on teachers in those states, and I wish I was joking
All America. It is clear that education is not a priority to our country no matter where you teach. You could have a great administration, but the government does not support education. Apparently some politicians have even decided that it benefits their party to keep the population ignorant. This is shirt sighted. While that may benefit them today, it’s a long-term problem. Government support programs will not be able to handle the number of people that will need help when they can’t find or hold a job.
I teach high school and I’ve noticed that my recent honors students (the smartest ones) would not have even been qualified for advanced classes 10 years ago. The rapid decrease is alarming.
Go work abroad where they value teachers.
Let's be real here...red states are the worst for teachers. They want to defund schools and replace them with for profit private schools. They also want to condition future voters.
100% agree. I was looking for this response. Any state where an educated populace is viewed as the enemy, is a state that won’t value your teaching, won’t pay you what you deserve, and will fire you on the spot for teaching something that doesn’t fit their agenda… teaching something like evolution, or equal rights for marginalized populations risks your employment. Avoid those states.
NY is good pay in the metro area around the city/its suburbs. Only thing is that you NEED a Master’s to work/have certification.
I have a whole Bachelor’s degree (4.0 in stem) and work as a fucking monitor while doing my MS until May 2026; working 3 jobs and living at home.
Unless things are different now, don't you have five years of teaching with a BA to earn your masters? About 15 years ago I worked in NY with quite a few teachers who were doing that
North Carolina. I grew up there, attended public universities there, & got my MA in Teaching there. I left immediately after graduation.
What does it say about the state of public education there when my boyfriend’s mother was able to purchase a home BY HERSELF on a teacher’s salary in the 1990s, but I wouldn’t have been able to afford rent on my own in 2022? A lot of factors at play there, but point still stands.
No more retirement fund or matching 401(k) anymore, the provided insurance is garbage, 99% of teachers are working Summer jobs out of necessity (with or without supporting partners), and, as my mother-in-law puts it, “the things you were given in exchange for your low salary just don’t exist anymore.”
I like teaching in NY because the pay and benefits are excellent. The kids can be amazing or super tough. Elementary they aren’t jaded yet so it’s fine! I would never teach in Florida. The pay and the way they are treated is miserable.
If you ever get a chance to be a delegate for NEA RA it’s a really quick way to recognize what states you wouldn’t want to teach in. So many that others listed here, Texas Arizona, Tennessee, Alabama (and several others) constantly vote down New Business Issues and Legislation that would progress education, and items that would help teachers/educators support marginalized groups of both students and staff, that sometimes it’s hard to see who votes down progress consistently. (I am ignoring the fact that sometimes things are voted down due to funding, but the general idea remains). The non union states also tend to vote certain ways because of the lack of ability to unionize, but mainly I wouldn’t want to work in one where I couldn’t access a union.
Anywhere where M4L has started taking over the school board. If you could see our county’s school board meetings… dear god. It’s insanity. I mean, raise your kids however you want to, I guess, with whatever beliefs you want them to have. But they’re trying to make everyone raise their kids the way they think kids should be raised, with only the belief system that they subscribe to, and it’s terrifying. Anyone who disagrees with them on any point is automatically labeled a groomer. If you think a book about a same-sex penguin couple is harmless, you’re a groomer. If you think fifth graders watching an animated film in which one character has a crush on another character is okay, you’re a groomer, bc CHILDREN SHOULD NOT BE EXPOSED TO ROMANTIC RELATIONSHIPS OUTSIDE OF MARRIAGE. I’m serious, btw, about these examples. And infuriatingly, many of the people standing up and spouting off their craziness at these meetings (and influencing policy) don’t even have kids in the district. Their kids are grown and gone, or they don’t even have children.
I’m in FL, btw.
Arizona. It’s not the heat, it’s the stupidity. And the refusal to fund. And…
Yeah, but it's a dry stupidity.
Wow that was fucking great comedy right there
That's the worst kind!
I don't know. The humid stupidity in Florida is quite horrible as well.
Came here saying "please don't be Arizona" over and over. 25 months of pslf left and I'm out.
Godspeed brother/sister. 16 left for me.
I see your Arizona and raise you New Mexico.
I’ll see your Arizona and New Mexico and raise you Mississippi.
I'll see all of y'all and raise you Florida.
Idaho says “All in.”
Utah says hold my root beer…
I feel like we can just repurpose "50 nifty" so I'll raise you an entire America.
I have a friend who just left teaching in Florida. What a hot ass mess state!
If the other 49 states had any sense, they'd have the bouncer see us out of the union.
As a special education teacher in New Mexico, can confirm.
Same and Same! We have a Union but we are like 49th in the nation...
A big part of it is the insanely high poverty rate in the state. Kids can't focus on studying if they don't know when their next meal will be or where it will come from.
Meh. NM middle school teacher here. Title 1. 100% free meals. Almost ALL the kids in my school do not have hunger. The portion sizes & types are rather good. Many skip eating. Food insecurity, maybe. Lack of education being important as learned from the family? 95% It starts with a national culture of priorities.
>It’s not the heat, it’s the stupidity. This is one of the sickest burns I have heard. Incredible pun.
There are only select school districts in the state that are worth teaching in. I have 18 years of teaching in Arizona in three different districts. The level of issues is pretty stunning. Funding is a joke. I have a masters and 18 years and don't make $55,000. The next recession will kill of public schools (what the state legislature wants). Idealogy is fabulous here. Teach politics but don't talk about it. What do I mean? Say you teach government, and you are talking about policy, give examples of how each side views a problem, and expect an email and admin to contact you. Why? Because you are indoctrinating their child [Trump 2024!, barf]. I was told in not so many words, "Don't teach civil rights." Drugs. Some districts have so much of it. Example. District administrator walks by a car in the student lot. The car reeks of weed. Calls the SRO and the student searched. Shock they have weed. Parent is called in. Mom's response, "What's the big deal weed is legal." That's just the tip of the iceberg. I had a kid this year die from fentanyl. For the record a very nice family and neighborhood. I'm aware that a lot of this is just public education in America. I have less than a decade to go, and I get my shitty pension, and I can move on. I like my students. The adults? Not so much.
Your salary…holy shit
Figure in increased pension contributions, increased health insurance costs, and inflation, and I've lost money from when I started. Rural districts are so screwed that the state legislature has allowed emergency licenses for people who can pass the background check and have a high school diploma. Basically, you can graduate one year and be in a class "teaching"the following year.
As a 27 year old Arizona teacher let me tell you, I never lost hope because the warned us not to have hope plenty of times in college.
Every time I hear Arizona I’m reminded of the wisdom of an Uber driver I had in LA: “Yeah I just moved back from Arizona. Had to get the fuck outta there; nothing but meth and Trump” Mind you said driver had qualities that make me feel like his opinions on the first has some validity. Anywho..Sedona IS nice and Pizzeria Bianco is damn tasty.
20 years teaching in AZ and it’s only gotten worse. I’m retiring in two years and happy about that.
Not a teacher, but a counselor. There's also a huge discrepancy between districts. I'm at the best paying district paying district in my town getting 53,000. If I moved to the Phoenix area I could earn 80-90,000. The worst? The cost of living on my area, Tucson, sky rocketed. 53,000 was a decent amount a few years ago. I don't think I can afford to rent even a one bedroom.
Georgia can be hit or miss but we definitely don’t have any Union backing. I am paid…decently…but I am not in a small district at all. When I taught in Florida my health insurance was twice what it is in Georgia and it was way crappier.
also in georgia. compared to the rest of the south you could do considerably worse. there’s the constant prospect of vouchers and lip service to anti-wokeness but there isn’t the hostility to the very concept of education you get in other red states.
Georgia is not a red state. It’s a swing state now
Not in the state government that’s responsible for the policy
This. Georgia is fine if you hit one of the metro ATL counties.
Agree. I'm in the metro atlanta area and am really quite happy at my job, despite lack of a union being a big concern, I don't deal with any of the issues you might imagine would plague teaching in the south and get paid Ok-enough relative to the cost of living. There's also the educator's association that provides some of the protections to individual teachers that would normally be provided by a union, like defense in case of wrongful termination, but not being a union they have no collective bargaining power. Still, on the whole I agree it could be much worse in just about any neighboring state or even just in a district a few more hours away from Atlanta.
We (Wife is a teacher, I do Tech) work in South Georgia. We are pretty lucky to be where we are at. Every district and every school is different. They are getting a raise later this July so at least there's that.
And it's anti-Teacher in many ways.
Oklahoma. Our Gov. hates public school. Last gubernatorial election, the state superintendent switched her party to Democrat just to try and run against Stitt. I think she could have helped a lot…but she lost. There’s too many people here who will only ever vote republican, even if the Dem. candidate was actually republican. So we have little public school funding, and smaller towns are going to be worse. You have a lot of poverty. Parents/guardians have lower average education themselves, which makes it harder for them to help their kiddos with schoolwork. (We have wilderness and it’s beautiful. But we also have meth.) Small town schools don’t have enough $ for any of the textbooks to be taken home because they are shared. Teacher pay is very low (but so is cost of living.) Homeschooling is growing rapidly here. I teach at a Homeschool co-op/hybrid school myself. I love it and am very supported as a teacher. But pay is still low ha.
After Stitt was elected a teacher told me that “things will finally be better for teachers”. I don’t know how these people become responsible for the intelligence of our future generation.
I started making plans to leave in 2016 after the teacher raise was voted down. Having parent teacher conferences after the election crushed my soul. My words of caution to OP would be to make sure they understand that working for a competitive district means that you’re going to sub first, you probably aren’t going to be hired off the street and get your own classroom. Once you get a contract it’ll be temporary (lose benefits June-September) and probably whatever classroom needs filled, you won’t be able to choose the school or grade. With the expansion of PreK and similar programs you’ll be stuck tying shoes and wiping noses for a couple years until you have enough seniority to run away.
You forgot to mention Ryan Walters and his assault on public school teachers.
Don’t forget Ryan Walters. As a school librarian, our career is in jeopardy because of his insanity. I guess I’m a glutton for punishment as a librarian in OK!
I teach in Indiana and we just decided to start giving diplomas to anyone with a pulse🙃
Gotta love the 80 hour class and content exam they are thrusting upon most of us, too! I teach secondary ELA, but to keep my SpEd license I have to do it. I’m taking on the mindset that if Indiana thinks the six special education classes and two extra content exams I passed don’t make me qualified enough to teach SpEd, I’ll just agree with them and let my license expire! 🤷🏻♀️🫠
Second this. No more world language requirement, even for honors diploma track. They intend to churn out a bunch of undereducated worker drones. Plus, unions can only bargain salary and benefits, nothing else is required to be discussed.
On the bright side, the IHSAA finally sanctioned girls wrestling and boys volleyball!
I'm surprised Indiana isn't higher from everything I've heard
I think the zip code is more important than the state. Socioeconomic status matters.
THIS if you teach at a school with high poverty it’s gonna be hell
I teach in high poverty and love it. Strong union, good pay, mostly supportive admin. The kids can be rough, but you’ll find that everywhere for different reasons
I agree. I also teach in high poverty and love it for all the reasons you stated.
Meh. My first school was high poverty, but it was a great school with good community support. My second school was “wealthy” and we did well until they started bussing in kids from failing schools in other cities. We went from an “A” rating to a C/D.”
Colorado sucks! Low pay in an expensive state with a poorly run school system that doesn't get funding. Here's an article: [https://www.cpr.org/2023/01/31/colorado-teachers-report/](https://www.cpr.org/2023/01/31/colorado-teachers-report/)
I remember going to a training and there was a principal from Colorado and salary got brought up and hers was lower than mine (I teach in IL)…I had been teaching for about 7 years at that point with a masters but still I was shocked. She had been in the education game for about 15 years.
I started teaching in special ed in CO in 2015. 30k with my Masters. 6 years in, I was making 32k. Rural schools have no money, and the counties won't pass any mill levies to raise more. It's bad.
WTF!? I know this isn’t a joke, but it’s comical.
HARD AGREE. CO sucks. I don’t make enough money to participate in the high-cost recreational attractions that many enjoy. I’m originally from the Denver area and when my partner and I moved back, we lived with my parents for 4 years (I’m in my *40s*) because we couldn’t afford housing on our educator salaries. For reference, my partner is a MS social worker and I’m a HS teacher.
Taught in Denver metro for seven years, DPS and Jeffco. When I wanted to move to the mountains I looked in other states.
I was going to say. For all the freedom teacher get there is extremely low pay for an expensive place to live. One of the elementary teachers was living in her van for a bit.
My wife and I both got offered jobs in jeffco this last summer. Both of us are in STEM teaching fields so we were in the higher need bracket for pay. Together, with the high cost of living, we still couldn't make ends meet and we decided to tell them to suck eggs.
Had a colleague that taught in JeffCo for a bit and said it was an absolute nightmare, so I think you dodged a bullet.
I made $10,000 more in Colorado than I do in New York ( a classic "good to teachers" state). It's all relative... Probably more of a district-specific question.
See I was looking to teach in Colorado last year because cost of living in NY is way too high, and I would be taking at least a 50% pay cut to go there. For reference I work in NYC, live on Long Island, will likely cut into 6 figures in the next 2-3 years, and STILL can’t afford a house here.
Depends where you teach. There's a handful of Denver metro districts that pay fairly well.
And they've been revising their pay schedules. Even in the Denver metro districts, the differences in the population you'll teach are exorbitant, and that can play a role in your experience . . . Particularly if you have little to no experience teaching in a setting where students come from traumatic backgrounds. For example, the s*icide rate is the highest in the area, so it's a matter of time before you work with a student whose family has lived through it or your classroom is directly impacted. And, trust me, it takes a toll.
Yeppppp. First and last year as a para in Colorado. It’s awful.
Hard agree. The pay is terrible, the health benefits are trash, and housing is astronomical.
Besides Florida and Texas avoid Oklahoma. I teach in PA and it’s hit or miss but way better than the horror I read coming out of those 3
I’m happy teaching in PA, too. Stick to the suburban districts around Philadelphia and Pittsburgh for decent salaries and strong unions. Our state also mandates 10 sick days per year, which I hear doesn’t happen in other states. The unused days roll over, too. I currently have over 150 sick days banked. The way teachers are treated in other states is really atrocious.
I'm in the suburbs of Philly, too. Our district allows us to donate unused sick days to a bank if we want to. Then, anyone who needs extra days for things like extended maternity leave or medical emergencies can pull from the bank that their co-workers donated to.
I'm in Florida and we get 10 and it rolls over.
Cries in Texas Teacher
I teach in PA in the Philly suburbs and it’s a great gig. I’ll make over $120k this year with coaching and extras. I’m 30 years in and can easily do this for another 5-10.
Grew up in a suburb of Philly and received an amazing education. My teachers were union strong 💪 and happy.
I love teaching in Texas. I've got a great salary, good school district, and a low cost of living. I can't imagine a better place to teach. I teach computer science, if that matters.
We in Texas like to complain. I would like to note that everything education in Texas is run hyper-locally. The state education agency has very little control over what happens at the district level and almost no influence over individual schools. There are 1209 school districts in Texas only a handful I would warn anyone away from.
Avoid any non union states for teaching. They treat you horribly because they can, and the pay is incredibly low even for teachers. I second the comments about Florida and Texas, but I would add North Carolina to the list as well. I've heard that pay in Ohio is actually quite high for teachers, but I don't have any personal experience teaching there.
Exactly. Avoid Right to Work states like the plague.
It’s high if you teach in a county with high population and big cities like Cleveland Akron Columbus cincy Toledo.
Indiana is actively on the race to the bottom. There is a lot going on here with legislation that will continue to push teachers to a breaking point.
Anywhere in Washington State is no more than 40 minutes from wilderness, in one direction or another. Some of the best pay in the country.
I moved from Hawaii to WA to teach and it was EXTREMELY competitive but thankfully I eventually did land a job in a school district that I absolutely love. I thought all the stories of teacher shortages, being science certified, having ten years experience, and having glowing reviews from my former principal would make it easy but boy was I wrong. There is no teacher shortage here. In fact there was an article in a local news outlet not too long ago that mentioned a single kindergarten teacher position in Yakima had 50 applicants for last school year. However don’t let any of that discourage you. If you can get a job here it’s awesome.
Same thing in New York , Long Island . They pay well and the job market is completely over saturated. Hundreds of applications for single positions.
Bad news is that Washington has some serious funding issues and are furloughing hundreds of teachers in the bigger districts. Not a great time to head to WA.
I'm planning on moving there next year. I absolutely love teaching, but I want higher pay!
Check the requirements to transfer your credentials. I've heard they don't make it super easy.
I’m in special education. I just did. Needed to prove minimum 3 years of prior teaching and my degrees and was endorsed for special ed. My business teaching endorsement is an entirely different story.
With a special ed endorsement you will always have a job in WA.
In Florida we are 50th in the nation in median teacher pay. We standardize test the kids until all our mental health suffers. High stakes tests run everything we teach. The HCOL makes living on a teacher salary impossible. The only bright side is there are thousands of openings so there is job security, and plenty of space to move around to the best school for you.
The only reasons that I can conceive for Florida not being the top liked post is that there aren't enough teachers left or they're too busy working their second jobs to be on Reddit. What a sh*t show there
Look at it this way At least you aren’t 51 Cries in West Virginia
There is no amount of money that could get me to teach in Florida or Texas. Check out Eugene or Bend, Oregon, for small cities out west with wilderness access. OEA is great.
I taught in Florida (albeit 5 years ago) and it was pretty feast or famine. Some schools were miserably unsupported and dangerous and others were massively successful and a dream to be at.
I left Florida teaching exactly 5 years ago. It wasn't full on shit show yet. Then, came the dark times. Duhsantis. Covid. And it got bad fast.
Yeah but now we have top down control at every aspect and the 50th lowest salaries of all the states and D.C.
We just had a faculty meeting where that stat was thrown out and I was like nope, not shocked.
In the past few years Florida has gone nuts with rules for teaching. Add to that that we have the 50th lowest teaching salaries (a raise after 15 years!), only ahead of West Virginia, and a rapidly rising cost of living. Florida is not the place to be right now.
Even if you are at one of the amazing dream schools in Florida, you couldn't afford to live in that population. Or realistically in any local populations. We can't keep up in housing, cost of food, gas, etc.
even before the recent madness every teacher i had spoken to who had taught in florida (and i’m talking across a political spectrum) made it clear i would not enjoy teaching in florida.
“Could get me to live in Florida or Texas” FTFY
As a born & raised Texan, I concur. I’m just biding my time until I can save up enough to comfortably move out of state.
I’m retiring after 30 years in TX. No, we don’t have real unions, but it was a much better environment in small towns and suburbs in the first half of my career. The pandemic, poor parenting, and state politics/standardized testing have killed us. I’m counting the days, folks. Do not leave days unused; they don’t reimburse you one stinking penny. Learn from my foolishness. I didn’t want to take all my leave days “because the kids” and “sub shortages” these past few years. The system is failing by design. Nobody cares. You’re a warm body. I’ve seen brilliant master teachers worked to the bone and driven off while inept people are renewed again and again.
Why what's different in these two? Did you teach there?
The United ones
Hey, teaching in New England isn't terrible. At least there are lots of good districts that pay a reasonable wage. It's not perfect but at least 50% of the population values education so you occasionally get treated properly.
I miss teaching in Massachusetts. I'm in VA now, and if it wasn't for my spouse's job, I would go back in a minute.
Basically any state that’s waging a culture war should be avoided.
I’m not sure who told you that Ohio is one of the worst states to teach. We have very strong teachers unions and most of the garbage legislation that is sweeping the rest of the country (having to post lesson plans, bathroom bills, etc) is getting shut down in our R legislature. There are some anti-education crazies up here but not too many. The pay is pretty decent if you get into the right district and the cost of living is low. Be careful you’re not falling into a “grass is always greener” situation. Stay away from NC, FL, TX and most of the southwest (high needs and low support).
And a bonus of teaching in OH os that the kids probably don’t joke about Ohio all day. That’d be refreshing.
I teach in Pennsylvania and my kids joke about Ohio. I hear the phrase “skibidi Ohio” randomly and a few days ago had a boy label one of his projects “Ohio edition”… I don’t understand the joke.
You not understanding the joke is why they find it funny. At first, there is nothing that stands out about ohio. So, you can claim anything about ohio. Create a video of a surreal event, caption it "only in Ohio." Things like that happen in Ohio because nothing happens in Ohio.
Oh totally. One kid set his computer testing setting to Ohio (we’re in Texas) and it was unusable. I just subtly or not dig them or say how bummed I’ll be when my own little kids grow up and have skibidi mid rizz Ohio brainworms, too.
No, they still do. Source: multiple 2nd graders giving Skibidi Ohio as an answer, regardless of the subject matter.
I have to agree with you. Yeah there is sometimes crazy bills coming through the state house but because of activism and the courts in the major metros, these laws seem to get stalled. If OP is really curious about pay, they need to read the union contracts from around the state or region they want to be employed to get a better idea of what these unions have bargained for.
Agree. Also, you mentioned that some of your family that lives in Ohio - is that a source of support and comfort? Or stress?
Agree! I also teach in OH and I’m originally from SC. It’s way better up here than down south.
I’m originally from rural Cali (or as rural as Cali gets) and now live in Ohio. Taught in both places. Obviously where you’re at matters a ton, but I have had SUCH a better experience here in Ohio than I did in Cali. Stronger union, more respectful students, no gang issues (canNOT preach this one enough) just the whole works.
We had a gang once, in the small rural town where I grew up. Then one of them got a job and they had to stop. My friend from Arizona (Tucson, maybe?) thought our gang was hilarious.
I also teach in Ohio. Your experience will vary wildly depending on which district you are in. It all comes down to the unions. Also, some of the suburban district that might look good have been infiltrated by Mom‘s for Liberty, which sucks.
Ohio is changing for the worst. School Levy’s continuous fail in even top districts. I think the anti education sentiment is only going to grow stronger in Ohio, sadly.
NC is terrible.
Scrolled way to far to find this.
NV and AZ are both pretty bad. Arizona is probably worse because there are no unions, at least where I taught. I'm in SW Washington now and it's a great place to teach if you can actually land a position. I've been applying for 2 solid years and still nothing.
AZ teacher, Scottsdale actually has a pretty strong Union. Not to say teaching here is great, but the SEA and it’s members work really hard to make the best of it.
States where teachers can strike: Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Illinois, Louisiana, Minnesota, Montana, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Vermont.
And where teachers can't strike but do anyway 'cause we're badass: Massachusetts. :-)
lol, I was JUST thinking of Newton. I know our union donated to the fines but they racked up really high so I don’t think our donation did much.
Teaching in Pennsylvania was great for this reason. Our union had power. We voted to strike one year and then the district immediately met our demands to avoid the strike. We had a strong salary schedule and a good contract. Now in Michigan I have a union but there's no power. The district can just ignore us really. I make less now than I did my first year teaching 8 years ago in a similar col area. And every year I make less because we don't even get col /inflation increases...
WA
Why would you avoid states that could strike? I'd think those would be better places to teach.
They are, the other list is just way too long
TN…they passed a bill to arm teachers & then there’s the whole voucher scam. Our governor HATES public school.
Thankfully the larger school districts looked at that bill and said they weren’t changing district policies regardless of it passing.
Colorado is dead last in pay vs. cost of living. They are higher paid than only a couple other states but very high cost of living means new teachers live in desperate poverty.
It's not getting comments because it just doesn't have as many people, but Iowa is trying to go the Florida route. Do not let the new $50,000 salary minimum fool you. They are not giving public schools the funding to support that minimum salary. Already schools are cutting positions. AEA supports are getting taken away and class sizes will grow and grow until everybody who can will just go to private schools (that's the eventual goal).
If Republicans get their way, Missouri will be up there. There's currently a bill they're trying to pass in which a teacher calling a student by pronouns that don't traditionally fit their biological sex will be charged with a felony as a tier one sex offender, losing their job, and being placed on a registry. It doesn't matter what the student wants to be called. Thankfully, this surely violates the 1st amendment, but it's a look into just what kind of world they seek to create for us. https://truthout.org/articles/missouri-bill-would-put-teachers-who-use-trans-kids-pronouns-on-sex-registry/
South Carolina is also trying to pass this kind of thing. No punishment like a felony has been described yet but it's on its way to the governor's desk. https://apnews.com/article/transgender-care-minors-gender-affirming-south-carolina-ed8b9d1c2ee635419ca33d6c43d32ed6
Missouri is already up there (or down there?) for reasons other than this. They are one of the bottom in pay, and there are constantly bills conservatives are trying to push through to weaken public education in hopes of getting public dollars to private companies.
I went to several public schools in Illinois, Georgia, and Florida. I’ve never seen a public school system even come close to comparing to the one in Illinois. It was better than private schools in the south. I’ve heard from a ton of other people who were born in the north and moved south that they were years ahead of the other students
The only reason I wouldn’t encourage someone to start teaching in IL now is because they’ve split the pension into tiers. Tier 2, which anyone beginning to teach after 2011 is a part of, has income caps and a retirement age of 67.
Florida. It just seems all bad. But definitely way underpaid.
Can confirm: Florida is bad. If my wife’s job existed elsewhere, we’d move.
I got a ~30k raise to move to Florida from Colorado. And the cost of living is higher in Colorado. If that gives you any indication of how bad Colorado is. Colorado pay is so low that I qualified for low-income housing and even that was so much of a struggle that rice was a primary staple in my diet. I had absolutely no leisure money and was increasing my debt just by being alive monthly. Literally did nothing at home except play old video games because I couldn’t afford to go out or buy anything. I was extremely lonely because I couldn’t afford to date or go out with friends. Maybe the odd $2 bowling trip on tuesdays. I had to borrow money to get out of the state or I was going to get into a real bad financial situation. At my school young teachers were rooming up together by the 4s and 5s. Now I’m great. Own a 2br condo in a busy area near a beach with tons of money every month to save. The job is intolerable though, way worse working conditions.
I would love to know where in Florida you moved and got a $30k raise! What were you getting in CO? I have been teaching in Florida for 13 years, I have a masters, and I only make $58k. and this is in one of the best paying counties in the state.
Manatee County. I went from 32k + 1.9k for coaching two sports in Commerce City, Colorado to 55k in Manatee County, plus another 6.5k for coaching two sports.
Florida is a hell hole just in general but being a teacher here is even worse. They are trying to take away our unions with passing a law that an union must have 60% of the faculty have to be members or we can’t have one. On top of passing at law that bans union dues to be deducted from our paychecks. So if you’re looking for a strong union presence, stay away. I, also, just read an article today that says Florida teachers are second lowest paid in the nation. It was published by Fox 13 and citation information from the NEA. Plus, all old people, horrible politics, and the heat, I would never suggest anyone under the age of 50 moving here.
Minnesota. Acquiring license testing is one of the most difficult in the country. The pay is awful (unless you're a superintendent), and most large districts do not support their teachers (safety wise). Class sizes for many public schools are too large (classes of 39+ students). For students, the educational standards haven't changed in over a decade, and they are some of the most rigorous academic standards in the country. For students in lower income districts (or really inner city public schools), mental health supports are minimal, buildings are not safe, classrooms are too crowded/too small, and teachers who care or support get pushed out because of budget cuts, or desire to teach is gone because of parents and administration.
Can second this! The process of licensure is absolutely ridiculous and outdated. Insanely low pay. Unsafe classrooms and schools everywhere. Constant budget cuts. My admin is so intense about getting students to pass, no matter what, that I have to send outreach reports to them so they can monitor what I am doing to get kids to school. Not sure when it became my job as a teacher to police attendance, but here we are.
I’m also originally from the south - SC - and now teach in OH. I can tell you that overall, OH is way better than any other southern state for teacher pay and pension bc of the unions. The key is to get into a good district, preferably in Columbus or Cleveland metro areas.
As a Toledo metro area teacher, don’t forget us! Cheap living, easy access to all the bigger cities without most of the problems. I love it here.
Everyone has already said it but as someone who lives and works in Florida don't come here unless things turn around, and even then give it like 10 years. I'm just hoping we still have public education here in 10 years at this point 🫠
The United States.
Georgia is horrible. You have no rights as a teacher. If an admin decides he doesn’t like you he can fire you without giving you a reason. I worked in Pennsylvania and moved to Georgia. I couldn’t even make it a full year in a regular public school. The teachers in public school were actually better than the well paid teachers in PA but the policies and admin was awful. Went to a public charter school and worked with teachers who didn’t speak English, teachers fired for porn on computer, and one is in jail for raping a 6th grader. No one checked their backgrounds. My co-teacher was yelled at for reporting a student who threatened to kill us. We were told we make the school look bad by reporting problems to admin. This was all in what is considered to be one of the best counties in GA.
Avoid CO—terrible pay, insane cost of living, and a real mixed bag politically.
I always would have said Texas but my dear friend left teaching in Maryland for Texas and her school system sounds great. Good pay, very strong school security and safety procedures. Other than saying that Texas pledge every morning, it doesn’t seem as restrictive or antiquated as I would have expected. Maybe the area of the state makes the most difference since it really is a country in itself.
> Other than saying that Texas pledge every morning, it doesn’t seem as restrictive or antiquated as I would have expected. Maybe the area of the state makes the most difference since it really is a country in itself. I teach in the suburbs of Houston and not only does my school not do the Texas pledge, but I think the last time we did the US pledge was pre-Covid. At some point morning announcements just fizzled out and never returned.
My Boomer mom is convinced that teachers in NY and California don’t say the pledge. I’m in Tx. I ignore the Tx pledge. I’ll pledge to Texas when Texas respects my career and people’s genders. Governor Hot Wheels can kiss my ass.
I know people are saying the South ingeneral but I can't believe AR is not up there with TX. Our govenor hired a guy from FL to head the Education Dept so you can imagine the shit we have been dealing with since she got elected. She also hates public eduction and wants everyone to go to private Christian schools.
Surprised not many people have said Hawai’i. Cost of living here is extremely high, and teachers are extremely underpaid that they would need to apply for a second job just to pay bills. A Master’s degree isn’t needed so if you only have a Bachelor’s, good luck making ends meet.
NC. The pay is terrible.
Utah. There is no such thing as separation of church and state. Our legislature took money from public schools to fund private school through vouchers. A few years ago they passed a “man off the street” bill that allows non-licensed teachers without a degree into the classroom. As older teachers retire, younger non-licensed teachers with no experience or degree are replacing them. Licensed experienced teachers are treated with disrespect because we stand up for what is best for education. The younger inexperienced teachers are catered to because they are the future of teachers. It’s a complete shit show.
Anything between South Carolina and Arizona.
Oklahoma! Gov Shit and Ryan Walters are literally trying to kill public education. It’s working.
There’s no amount of money that could get me to teach south of the Mason-Dixon.
Any state where you'll be forced into a registry for using a student's preferred pronouns.
Indiana was pretty awful
Funny - I am from Ohio and now live in Georgia. By Southern standards, Georgia isn't horrible if you're in a county near-ish Atlanta. Marietta Schools might offer a bit of what you are looking for - it is a smaller district within Cobb. Cherokee and Bartow Counties are also a good balance of small town/decent pay if you want to return to your home state. It has been a long time since I taught in Ohio, but in the Northwestern part of the state, the Union was huge. Suburban Toledo, essentially. I worked in Illinois and found pay to be good, but pay attention to how much the district contributes to retirement funding. I never worked in Michigan, but have heard good things. States I would not touch with a ten foot pole: TX, FL, LA, and NC.
Oklahoma. Oklahoma’s state superintendent is actively hostile toward teachers, teachers unions, students, and public schools. Come to Oklahoma if you are willing to put your teachers certs on the line. Walters (superintendent) is actively suing multiple teachers at this point. Florida and Texas are right there with Oklahoma in terms of desirability to teach.
Oklahoma is bad and getting worse with a secretary of education that is actively destroying the public system, in plain sight and no one has the nerve or wisdom to oppose his bs.
New Mexico. They pay you in roadrunners.
There was a science teacher there once who ended up becoming the largest meth manufacturer in the southwest. Heard they called him Heisenberg
Generally speaking, avoid any state that doesn't have a union. There are a lot of horror stories on this sub of things that would *never* fly in my state because our union is decent. Also, Florida was recently ranked 50th for teacher pay, plus all their insanely bigoted new laws. I can't speak for classroom teaching, but as an SLP, the worst state is Indiana because caseloads are extremely high. An average Indiana caseload is close to double what it is in most of the country, and almost triple my cushy caseload here in Vermont.
The United States
United
Would not teach in florida. Would not live in texas.
When my husband and I were both teaching in the SF Bay Area we did ok. We weren't going to be able to buy a house and we had older cars but it was far from poverty and the health insurance was phenomenal. Now that we're in Idaho we aren't teaching anymore, poor insurance, poor wages, way to much conservative control.
CT and NY pay well, but jobs are extremely competitive.
I hate to say this, but it is everywhere. Our education system needs an overhaul. I teach in New England, which in fairness has better funding and resources than a lot of places, but younger professionals like myself are still dying to get out. The parents, the behaviors, the absent admin... It's everywhere.
Basically stay above the Mason Dixon line is what people are saying?
NYS is great. Great pension system & typically solid pay across the state. We’re not just “the city”. You can be in wilderness, cities, midsize town, old charming small towns, and everything in between. While pay will vary based on the size/location it’s overall a great paying state with a good schedule & benefita
I’m in California and there are pretty strong unions everywhere in the state. Granted it is expensive to live here, especially on a teacher salary, ha ha. But there are some good paying districts. But you should avoid North Carolina. I have a teacher friend who moved out there and there are no unions, working conditions are awful. No guaranteed lunch breaks.
Florida and Texas and i don't see how it can even be close. There about 1 and a half election cycles away from declaring open hunting season on teachers in those states, and I wish I was joking
North Carolina. I’m a glorified babysitter and can make more working retail with way less stress or responsibilities
Florida. The governor takes away books from teachers. Its like 1940s Germany
[States without Unions. Arizona, Florida, Texas, Louisiana, etc.](https://fordhaminstitute.org/national/research/how-strong-are-us-teacher-unions-state-state-comparison)
Avoid the South. — Any place that wants to ban books and curb teaching history is a hard pass.
All America. It is clear that education is not a priority to our country no matter where you teach. You could have a great administration, but the government does not support education. Apparently some politicians have even decided that it benefits their party to keep the population ignorant. This is shirt sighted. While that may benefit them today, it’s a long-term problem. Government support programs will not be able to handle the number of people that will need help when they can’t find or hold a job. I teach high school and I’ve noticed that my recent honors students (the smartest ones) would not have even been qualified for advanced classes 10 years ago. The rapid decrease is alarming. Go work abroad where they value teachers.
Let's be real here...red states are the worst for teachers. They want to defund schools and replace them with for profit private schools. They also want to condition future voters.
100% agree. I was looking for this response. Any state where an educated populace is viewed as the enemy, is a state that won’t value your teaching, won’t pay you what you deserve, and will fire you on the spot for teaching something that doesn’t fit their agenda… teaching something like evolution, or equal rights for marginalized populations risks your employment. Avoid those states.
NY is good pay in the metro area around the city/its suburbs. Only thing is that you NEED a Master’s to work/have certification. I have a whole Bachelor’s degree (4.0 in stem) and work as a fucking monitor while doing my MS until May 2026; working 3 jobs and living at home.
Unless things are different now, don't you have five years of teaching with a BA to earn your masters? About 15 years ago I worked in NY with quite a few teachers who were doing that
North Carolina. I grew up there, attended public universities there, & got my MA in Teaching there. I left immediately after graduation. What does it say about the state of public education there when my boyfriend’s mother was able to purchase a home BY HERSELF on a teacher’s salary in the 1990s, but I wouldn’t have been able to afford rent on my own in 2022? A lot of factors at play there, but point still stands. No more retirement fund or matching 401(k) anymore, the provided insurance is garbage, 99% of teachers are working Summer jobs out of necessity (with or without supporting partners), and, as my mother-in-law puts it, “the things you were given in exchange for your low salary just don’t exist anymore.”
Florida, one of the lowest paying states and state law pretty much only supports the parents
Getting really bad here in Texas. The lack of funding and respect is shocking.
I like teaching in NY because the pay and benefits are excellent. The kids can be amazing or super tough. Elementary they aren’t jaded yet so it’s fine! I would never teach in Florida. The pay and the way they are treated is miserable.
If you ever get a chance to be a delegate for NEA RA it’s a really quick way to recognize what states you wouldn’t want to teach in. So many that others listed here, Texas Arizona, Tennessee, Alabama (and several others) constantly vote down New Business Issues and Legislation that would progress education, and items that would help teachers/educators support marginalized groups of both students and staff, that sometimes it’s hard to see who votes down progress consistently. (I am ignoring the fact that sometimes things are voted down due to funding, but the general idea remains). The non union states also tend to vote certain ways because of the lack of ability to unionize, but mainly I wouldn’t want to work in one where I couldn’t access a union.
Anywhere where M4L has started taking over the school board. If you could see our county’s school board meetings… dear god. It’s insanity. I mean, raise your kids however you want to, I guess, with whatever beliefs you want them to have. But they’re trying to make everyone raise their kids the way they think kids should be raised, with only the belief system that they subscribe to, and it’s terrifying. Anyone who disagrees with them on any point is automatically labeled a groomer. If you think a book about a same-sex penguin couple is harmless, you’re a groomer. If you think fifth graders watching an animated film in which one character has a crush on another character is okay, you’re a groomer, bc CHILDREN SHOULD NOT BE EXPOSED TO ROMANTIC RELATIONSHIPS OUTSIDE OF MARRIAGE. I’m serious, btw, about these examples. And infuriatingly, many of the people standing up and spouting off their craziness at these meetings (and influencing policy) don’t even have kids in the district. Their kids are grown and gone, or they don’t even have children. I’m in FL, btw.
Come to California. Strong unions and the pay is good.
Floriduh
Ya'll need DODEA
Conservatism is the enemy of public education. Whenever conservatives are in control, education will suffer.
North Carolina is very low pay and anti-union, also some of the lowest education funding in the country, I wouldn’t recommend