Elementary School Teacher Salary: An Overview

Many elementary school teachers like to say that while they are teaching children, the children are also teaching them. It follows, then, that for an elementary school teacher, average salary increases steadily with more experience in the classroom. Compare the Starting Salary for an Elementary School Teacher chart to the overall Starting Salary for a Teacher and you can see that while it may start out in the $30,000 range, elementary school teacher average salary increases to over $50,000 with 20 years or more of experience. Of course, teachers learn plenty from other adults, too. Continuing education can really pay off when it comes to elementary school teacher salaries. Researching Elementary School Teacher Salaries by Degree/Major Subject, we can see that the average salary of elementary teachers is much higher for those with a master's degree in education.

Location and Elementary School Teacher Salaries

One nice thing about being an elementary school teacher is that people aren't likely to stop having children anytime soon. Consequently, there continue to be teaching opportunities in every state in the Union. But which states offer the highest elementary school teacher salaries? The Elementary School Teacher Average Salary by State report currently lists California, New York and New Jersey as all being in the running for highest elementary school teacher salaries. However, it's important to remember that location can impact salary in other ways. Measure School Teacher Vacation Weeks by State, and you'll see that New York is far in the lead for average vacation weeks for teachers.

Elementary School Teacher Average Salary: A True Story

John Rickey has been teaching first grade for 15 years, and he's seen it all. For the true story of this passionate educator, check out his interview entitled "Elementary School Teacher Salary" in the Salary Stories blog section. John describes his career path and explains why teaching can be such an important and rewarding profession.

To further your elementary school teacher salary research, view PayScale's data on Average Teacher Salaries in the comprehensive K-12 teacher salary report.