Are North Dakota And Montana Teaching Wages Dismal?

If you're thinking about becoming a teacher, your motivations probably go beyond monetary considerations. However, you've probably still asked yourself, "How much money does a teacher make a year?'' It's a difficult question to answer; the average teacher salary in America varies significantly from one state to another.

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Most of the states in our region rank near (or at the bottom of) the list when it comes to teacher compensation.

North Dakota comes in at the 38th lowest in average teacher pay, with $56,510 annually.

While that may be suboptimal to both maintain and entice new teachers to come to the state, it is not even the worst in the immediate vicinity.

Montana has the 44th lowest average teacher salary with $54,630.

Even more suboptimal, and that state is feeling the crunch with over 1,000 teaching vacancies state wide were reported just before this new school season started.  However, not the worst in our neighborhood.

South Dakota comes in 51st overall (the list includes D.C.) with an average teaching salary of $49,190.

If you think it's a regional, a population, or a political issue, then Wyoming and Minnesota beg to differ ranking in at 19th and 18th overall with average salaries of $63,730 and $64,500 respectively.

For a more detailed look at teacher pay across the country, you can check out the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), which keeps detailed information on national and state salary averages for a wide variety of professions.

The data below shows a detailed breakdown by state of teacher salaries.