student questioning

Facts and Data

Did You Know?

✔ Teachers in the United States rate their lives better than all other occupation groups, trailing only physicians.

✔ Mid-career teacher salaries typically range between $60,000 and $100,000.

✔ Grade 7-12 science and math teachers get paid more than most college faculty.

✔ There are student loan forgiveness programs and scholarships for math and science teachers.

✔ Over 78% of high school science teachers are still in the classroom after 5 years of teaching.

✔ Most teaching jobs have better retirement benefits than other jobs you can get with the same degree.

✔ About half of all science and math majors report an interest in becoming a teacher.

✔ You can get a job almost anywhere in the U.S. or abroad as a science or math teacher.

✔ Research shows that the classroom teacher has a greater impact on student learning than all other aspects of schools (i.e. Class size and funding per student).

Did you know ... Teachers in the United States rate their lives better than all other occupation groups, trailing only physicians.

Percentage shown is the % of people ranking their lives at the top of the ladder minus the % of people ranking their lives at the bottom of the ladder.

Ladder image

Results are based on telephone interviews conducted as part of the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index survey with a random sample of 172,286 workers, aged 18 or over, from Jan. 2-Dec. 30, 2012. For results based on the total sample of national adults, one can say with 95% confidence that the maximum margin of sampling error is ±3.5 percentage points for the smallest group (physicians) but less than ±1 for larger groups such as professionals, service workers, or managers/executives.

† Cantril H. The pattern of human concerns. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1965.

Did you know ... Mid-career teacher salaries typically range between $60,000 and $100,000.

District BS year 1 BS year 5 MS year 5 MS year 15
Visalia Unified Schools, California [1] $55,227 $61,055 $65,908 $92,523
Chandler Unified Schools, Arizona [2] $44,880 $82,850
Billings Public Schools, Montana [3] $39,582 $48,728 $57,940 $78,472
Denver Public Schools, Colorado [4] (Range: Base salary – Base plus 1 coaching gig and 1 activity) $45,800 $54,525-62,275 $60,053-67,803 $82,953-$90,703
Jericho UFSD, Long Island, NY (2017) [5] $68K (median) $87K (median) $146K (median)
  1. Visalia Unified School District - 2019–2020 Teacher Salary Schedule
  2. Chandler Unified School District - Certified Staff Salary Schedule (effective July 1, 2019)
  3. Billings Public Schools - Salary Schedule
  4. Denver Public Schools - Professional Compensation Agreement (retrieved Aug. 12, 2019)
  5. Rockefeller Institute - Analysis of Teacher Salaries in New York by Region and Wealth

The above table contains a sampling of salaries from across the nation. Visalia, CA represents an average district in a small city with a median household income of $51,980. by Chandler Unified Schools in Arizona was chosen because it is a prominent district in the 2018 Red for Ed movement. Chandler has a median household income of $78,931. Billings Public Schools in Montana is listed because some sources list Montana as the state with the lowest starting salaries in the nation. Billings median household income is $57,403. Denver Public Schools, another Red for Ed participant, represents a large urban district in one of the lowest per pupil funding states in the country. Denver’s median household income is $60,098. Finally Jericho UFSD is shown representing one of the best paying districts in the country where the median household income is $176,705.

Did you know ... Grade 7-12 science and math teachers get paid more than most college faculty.

Below is a comparison of college teaching faculty with grade 7-12 teachers. College teaching jobs require at least an MS and most a PhD. Grade 7-12 teachers typically begin with a BS and most have earned an MS* by mid-career.

Teaching faculty typically spend 80% of their time teaching and the remaining helping out in the department. They do not have research requirements and are evaluated on their teaching. 

American Institute of Physics Physics Faculty Calculator
Note: Tenure-track professors were not included since that job looks very different. They have limited teaching responsibilities and are primarily research-focused. This type of faculty in BS granting departments have similar salaries to grade 7-12 teachers, but those in PhD granting departments tend to make more.

* There are degree programs across the country designed for practicing teachers to earn their advanced degree while teaching full time.

Facts and Data