I’ve always thought, and I believe almost everyone would agree, that teachers are the most important people, because they play a crucial role in developing young minds and creating future leaders in every profession.
Unfortunately, as important a profession as it is in Wisconsin and throughout the country, teachers are too often overworked and underpaid.
Statistics show that education jobs are among the lowest-paying occupations that require a bachelor’s degree, and teacher salaries consistently fail to keep pace with inflation.
The raw numbers are shocking as teachers now earn an average of $3,728 less per year than they did 16 years ago, when inflation is taken into account.
However, when it comes to the compensation and treatment of teachers, not all states are created equal, as the results of a recent study to determine the best and worst states for teachers in America show.
I have to admit, while Wisconsin didn’t rank near the bottom, I did expect a higher ranking because the few teachers I know in the state seem overall happy, but perhaps they don’t realize they could be even happier teaching elsewhere.
Finding The Best And Worst States For Teachers
To determine the teacher-friendliest states in the U.S., the team at WalletHub compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia across two key dimensions, “Opportunity & Competition” and “Academic & Work Environment.”
A heavier weight was assigned to the first category due to the fact that competitive salaries and job security are integral to a well-balanced personal and professional life.
Then, an evaluation was done on two dimensions using 24 relevant metrics, including things like average starting salary for teachers, average salary overall, income growth potential, average pension, length of time before tenure kicks in, and more.
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Each metric was graded on a 100-point scale, with a score of 100 representing the most favorable conditions for living and working as a teacher.
How Did Wisconsin Rank For Teachers?
Once all the data was analyzed and the numbers were crunched, it wasn’t a fantastic finish for those looking to teach in Wisconsin, but it could certainly be worse. Wisconsin finished just inside the top half, ranking as the 24th best state for teachers.
Here were the Top 10 states:
Virginia
Utah
Washington
New York
Illinois
Maryland
Georgia
Minnesota
Massachusetts
California
If you’re wondering which states are currently the worst for teachers, the bottom three are Maine, Montana, and Hawaii.