Happy New Years!

Happy New Years. 

I'm taking today and tomorrow off from posting.

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Teacher Pay versus Average wages, Per Capita & Median Incomes by State

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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Best of Blogs for Week of December 28th

Every Friday afternoon I share some of the more interesting or notable posts that I have seen in the personal finance blogs and other sources for the past week

DoughRoller discusses What is the Saver’s Tax Credit?
This is a little discussed income tax credit available to a lot of people to help boost their retirement savings.

MyMoneyBlog tells about how you can Backup Your Music Library For Free Into Google’s Cloud Service

PlanetMoney tells us how Argentine Navy Defeats Hedge Fund  and little while back they explained Why Legos Are So Expensive — And So Popular

FMF asks Should Americans Be Forced to Save for Retirement?
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FREE - 25 4x6 photos from RiteAid

RiteAid is giving out 25 free 4"x6" photo prints on their website if you use the promo code EPRINT. 

You can order the prints online and pick them up free in the store.

Its probably a limited time offer but I am not sure when it expires.

I saw this one on Slickdeals
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