Over two years ago I wrote an article discussing average teacher pay versus median household incomes per state. That post seemed to generate some interest and discussion. Some of the discussion was criticism based on the apples to oranges comparison between average pay and median household income.
I thought I'd both update the numbers and add some more information.
I got teacher pay from the Teacher Portal site and they got the numbers from National Education Association (nea.org), National Center for Education Statistics (nces.ed.gov), 2011
The average wage numbers are from the May 2011 state cross industry estimates at the BLS site.
The per capita and median income are off of Wikipedia for 2010 which cites the Census.
The point of this data is to put teacher pay in relation to general income levels per state. Teacher pay varies considerably from state to state. Income levels in general also vary considerably from state to state. I'm just putting one column of numbers (teacher pay) along side another set of numbers showing state level averages and medians.
Here are the number...
First I'll start with just the average teacher pay versus average annual wages for all occupations per state:
| teacher pay | average wages | |
| Alabama | $47,803 | $39,180 |
| Alaska | $62,918 | $51,590 |
| Arizona | $47,553 | $43,670 |
| Arkansas | $46,500 | $36,340 |
| California | $67,871 | $51,910 |
| Colorado | $49,228 | $47,510 |
| Connecticut | $69,165 | $52,830 |
| Delaware | $57,934 | $47,420 |
| Florida | $45,732 | $40,750 |
| Georgia | $52,815 | $42,590 |
| Hawaii | $55,063 | $44,600 |
| Idaho | $47,416 | $38,520 |
| Illinois | $64,509 | $46,550 |
| Indiana | $50,801 | $39,700 |
| Iowa | $49,844 | $38,820 |
| Kansas | $46,598 | $40,030 |
| Kentucky | $48,908 | $38,640 |
| Louisiana | $49,006 | $38,780 |
| Maine | $47,182 | $40,190 |
| Maryland | $63,960 | $51,860 |
| Massachusetts | $70,752 | $54,740 |
| Michigan | $63,940 | $43,700 |
| Minnesota | $53,680 | $46,150 |
| Mississippi | $41,975 | $34,770 |
| Missouri | $45,321 | $40,500 |
| Montana | $47,132 | $36,840 |
| Nebraska | $47,368 | $39,140 |
| Nevada | $53,023 | $41,860 |
| New Hampshire | $52,792 | $45,220 |
| New Jersey | $66,612 | $51,540 |
| New Mexico | $46,888 | $40,790 |
| New York | $72,708 | $52,810 |
| North Carolina | $46,605 | $41,250 |
| North Dakota | $44,807 | $38,870 |
| Ohio | $56,715 | $41,590 |
| Oklahoma | $44,343 | $38,190 |
| Oregon | $56,503 | $44,290 |
| Pennsylvania | $60,760 | $44,070 |
| Rhode Island | $60,923 | $47,390 |
| South Carolina | $47,050 | $38,560 |
| South Dakota | $39,850 | $35,390 |
| Tennessee | $45,891 | $39,130 |
| Texas | $48,638 | $43,090 |
| Utah | $47,033 | $40,950 |
| Vermont | $50,141 | $43,080 |
| Virginia | $48,761 | $48,870 |
| Washington | $52,926 | $50,280 |
| West Virginia | $44,260 | $36,220 |
| Wisconsin | $54,195 | $41,420 |
| Wyoming | $56,100 | $42,510 |
Teachers earn above average wages in every state except Virginia. Now of course you do have to realize that average pay at the state level includes a lot of people working unskilled jobs with low educational requirements. This is not an apples to apples comparison, its more of an apples to fruits comparison. I think a better comparison would be to look at teacher pay versus the average wages for all people with college educations. However I can't easily find those numbers. Also note that this doesn't look at the value of benefits for a job and teachers have higher benefit levels than most jobs through their pensions and highly funded healthcare.
Now we'll compare teacher pay versus per capita pay and median income levels:
| teacher pay |
per capita | median household | median family | |
| Alabama | $47,803 | $22,984 | $42,081 | $52,863 |
| Alaska | $62,918 | $30,726 | $66,521 | $77,886 |
| Arizona | $47,553 | $25,680 | $50,448 | $59,840 |
| Arkansas | $46,500 | $21,274 | $39,267 | $48,491 |
| California | $67,871 | $29,188 | $60,883 | $69,322 |
| Colorado | $49,228 | $30,151 | $56,456 | $70,046 |
| Connecticut | $69,165 | $36,775 | $67,740 | $84,170 |
| Delaware | $57,934 | $29,007 | $57,599 | $69,182 |
| Florida | $45,732 | $26,551 | $47,661 | $57,204 |
| Georgia | $52,815 | $25,134 | $49,347 | $58,790 |
| Hawaii | $55,063 | $28,882 | $66,420 | $77,245 |
| Idaho | $47,416 | $22,518 | $46,423 | $54,689 |
| Illinois | $64,509 | $28,782 | $55,735 | $68,236 |
| Indiana | $50,801 | $24,058 | $47,697 | $58,944 |
| Iowa | $49,844 | $25,335 | $48,872 | $61,804 |
| Kansas | $46,598 | $25,907 | $49,424 | $62,424 |
| Kentucky | $48,908 | $22,515 | $41,576 | $52,046 |
| Louisiana | $49,006 | $23,094 | $43,445 | $53,702 |
| Maine | $47,182 | $25,385 | $46,933 | $58,185 |
| Maryland | $63,960 | $34,849 | $70,647 | $85,098 |
| Massachusetts | $70,752 | $33,966 | $64,509 | $81,165 |
| Michigan | $63,940 | $25,135 | $48,432 | $60,341 |
| Minnesota | $53,680 | $29,582 | $57,243 | $71,307 |
| Mississippi | $41,975 | $19,977 | $37,881 | $47,031 |
| Missouri | $45,321 | $24,724 | $46,262 | $57,661 |
| Montana | $47,132 | $23,836 | $43,872 | $55,725 |
| Nebraska | $47,368 | $25,229 | $49,342 | $61,888 |
| Nevada | $53,023 | $27,589 | $55,726 | $64,418 |
| New Hampshire | $52,792 | $31,422 | $63,277 | $76,446 |
| New Jersey | $66,612 | $34,858 | $69,811 | $84,904 |
| New Mexico | $46,888 | $22,966 | $43,820 | $52,565 |
| New York | $72,708 | $30,948 | $55,603 | $67,405 |
| North Carolina | $46,605 | $24,745 | $45,570 | $56,153 |
| North Dakota | $44,807 | $25,803 | $46,781 | $62,920 |
| Ohio | $56,715 | $25,113 | $47,358 | $59,680 |
| Oklahoma | $44,343 | $23,094 | $42,979 | $53,607 |
| Oregon | $56,503 | $26,171 | $49,260 | $60,402 |
| Pennsylvania | $60,760 | $27,049 | $50,398 | $63,364 |
| Rhode Island | $60,923 | $28,707 | $54,902 | $70,663 |
| South Carolina | $47,050 | $23,443 | $43,939 | $54,223 |
| South Dakota | $39,850 | $24,110 | $46,369 | $58,958 |
| Tennessee | $45,891 | $23,722 | $43,314 | $53,246 |
| Texas | $48,638 | $24,870 | $49,646 | $58,142 |
| Utah | $47,033 | $23,139 | $56,330 | $64,013 |
| Vermont | $50,141 | $27,478 | $51,841 | $64,135 |
| Virginia | $48,761 | $32,145 | $61,406 | $73,514 |
| Washington | $52,926 | $29,733 | $57,244 | $69,328 |
| West Virginia | $44,260 | $21,232 | $38,380 | $48,896 |
| Wisconsin | $54,195 | $26,624 | $51,598 | $64,869 |
| Wyoming | $56,100 | $27,860 | $53,802 | $65,964 |
There are four columns of numbers there for each state. First is the average pay for teachers. This is an average figure and includes all teachers of varying experience levels. It may be skewed one way or another if teachers in a given state have high or low average experience on the job.
Per capita income is the amount of wages averaged over a population so that includes people who don't work. Median household income includes all households so its a mix of single people, single unmarried parents, retired couples and married couples with multiple children. Family income only includes families and does not include single people.
None of these are perfect benchmarks for teacher pay versus other occupations nor does this say anything at all about whether or not teacher pay levels are 'fair' or the like. I'm not saying teachers make too much nor too little. We're just looking at the variation in pay for teachers from state to state and putting that into comparison with general wages per state.
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