Young children depend on teachers for future success and happiness. No one can argue that teaching is an important job, but often elementary school teachers say they are not paid fairly. More than half of teachers report that they aren’t paid fairly and most teachers say they work 15 more uncompensated hours a week than required in their contract. Teachers say their salaries can’t keep up with rising inflation.
The team at Playground Equipment studied average teacher salaries in 2019 but in light of these myriad problems, they decided it was time for an update. The team mapped out the cities with the highest and lowest salaries and color-coded states based on their average salaries.
These were the results for the highest paying cities:
- El Centro, CA average elementary school teacher salary – $110,420
- San Francisco, CA elementary school teacher salary – $103,520
- Oxnard, CA average elementary school teacher salary – $102,960
- Riverside, CA average elementary school teacher salary – $97,240
- Merced, CA average elementary school teacher salary – $96,980
- San Jose, CA average elementary school teacher salary – $96,730
- New York, NY average elementary school teacher salary – $96,450
- Visalia, CA average elementary school teacher salary – $95,890
- Seattle, WA average elementary school teacher salary – $95,630
- Napa, CA average elementary school teacher salary – $95,370
These were the results for the lowest paying cities:
- Enid, Oklahoma: $45,900
- Jackson, Missouri: $47,560
- Fayetteville, North Carolina: $47,590
- Hattiesburg, Missouri: $47,590
- Rocky Mount, North Carolina: $47,980
- Beckly, West Virginia: $48,080
- Jacksonville, North Carolina: $48,260
- Asheville, North Carolina: $49,370
- Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton, North Carolina: $49,580
- Prescott, Arizona: $49,620
So, do these salaries contribute to a teaching shortage? If you compare Playground Equipment’s map with maps of states with the highest shortages, you’ll definitely find a correlation between the lowest salaries and the highest shortages.
