Salary Survey Report for All K-12 Teachers

What is the Salary of a Teacher?

People may become school teachers for a variety of non-salary-related reasons: a passion for working with children, a desire to make a difference, a love for working in a classroom setting, and so on. However, salary is still an important consideration in making a career decision, so "what is the salary of a teacher" is a question on a lot of people's minds. School teacher salaries are influenced heavily by factors such as location, degree in school, and years of teaching experience. PayScale's chart of Teacher Salaries by State shows that California, New York, and New Jersey are ahead of the curve when it comes to school teacher salaries. Asking "what is the salary of a teacher by city?" will show that Los Angeles and New York are currently the cities with the highest median teacher salaries. It looks like California and New York get the gold star when it comes to teacher salaries! Digging in to Median Teacher Salaries by Degree shows that a master's degree, either an MA in Education or a Master of Education degree, gives school teacher salaries a boost.For salary information specific to elementary school teachers, go to PayScale's Elementary School Teacher Salary data.

Starting Salary for a Teacher

One of the most important factors affecting school teacher salaries is years of teaching experience. Many aspiring teachers may wonder, "what is the salary of a teacher who is just starting out?" The Starting Salary for a Teacher report above shows that the median starting salary for a teacher is around $32,000. It may take a few years for a teacher to build up enough experience to move very far beyond that starting salary. For a teacher with 5 or more years of experience, however, salary begins a fairly steady increase.

"What is the salary of a teacher" is just one of the many questions future teachers may have. For the real-life story of one middle school teacher, check out the Salary Stories post, "Teacher Salary: Middle School Teacher."