10 alarming facts about teacher pay in the United States

The US consistently ranks seventh in the world for average teacher pay.

At the top of the payscale, a US elementary school teacher makes $67,000 a year, and a US high school teacher makes $71,000 a year on average.

Compare this to Luxembourg, the No. 1 country for teacher salary, where elementary school educators make up to $124,000 a year on average, and high school teachers make $138,000 a year.

Other countries that beat the US in teacher pay include Switzerland, South Korea, the Netherlands, Germany, Austria, and for elementary school teachers, Ireland.

Teachers in New York make a median salary of $78,576 a year.

According to CNN, that's around the same salary as a physician's assistant, a college agricultural sciences professor, or a veterinarian.

That's also about $25,000 above the median salary of all workers in New York, which comes out to $50,825 a year.

Of course, it is also worth noting that New York is one of the few states that requires its teachers to earn a master's degree within the first five years of teaching.

According to USA Today, Oklahoma teachers make a median of $39,306 a year, only a few thousand dollars above the median Oklahoma salary of $33,630 a year. Keep in mind that this is the median, which means that roughly half of the teachers in the state make less than that amount.

According to careerbuilder.com, $39,000 a year is roughly the same average salary as a carpenter, construction equipment operator, or a correctional officer.

According to NEA Today, around 16% of teachers hold a second job over the summer, and 20% of them hold a second job year-round.

The report also found that the younger a teacher is, the more likely they are to hold a second job.

The publication also found that if you were to count second jobs within the school system, such as coaching, teaching evening classes, or directing shows, this statistic jumps from 20% to 59%.

In 2018, the National Center of Education Statistics found that teachers were spending an average of nearly $480 a year out of their own pockets for supplies for their students and classrooms.

That's nearly double the $250 federal tax deduction available to teachers.

The organization also found that 94% of teachers in the US had spent their own money on school supplies.

The average school day is only 6.7 hours long, but according to EdTech Magazine, the average teacher usually works 12 to 16 hours a day.

Between lesson plans, grading papers, staff meetings, and required duties like chaperoning, most teachers are at school long after the final bell rings.

A 16-hour workday would correspond to an 80-hour workweek. For the salary of a teacher in some of the lower-paying states, that comes out to barely more than $9 an hour.

In April, the National Education Association found that the average teacher salary actually decreased, rather than increased, over the past decade by 4.5%, when adjusted for inflation.

Average starting salaries for teachers have also decreased in the past decade, dropping 2.9% when adjusting for inflation.

This means that teachers today have less money in a significantly more expensive world.

According to a 2018 PDK Poll, 71% of Americans believe teachers deserve to be paid more. When only parents were polled, that number rose to 74%.

The poll also found that among teachers who "feel undervalued by their community," who think their pay is unfair, or who earn less than $45,000 annually, 62% have considered leaving the profession.

A majority of teachers — 55% — said they wouldn't want their child to follow them into the profession, citing inadequate pay and benefits as a chief reason.

Back in 2008 when the market crashed, schools across the country had to let teachers go, and, according to the National Education Association, they've been struggling to hire new, qualified teachers since the recession ended.

The shortage is especially severe in poorer school districts, where teachers are more likely to have "less experience, fewer credentials, and lack the educational background in the subject matter they are teaching," according to NEA Today.