Many of the teachers in the United States continue to struggle with low wages. However, while there have been some recent improvements in teacher salaries, many people in the education sector are still underpaid.

Teachers in the U.S. earn an average of $72,000. This number can vary depending on the state they work in and years of experience, but the average beginning teacher makes just $46,500. This number illustrates a significant decrease in teachers’ pay over the past decade. Even though many teachers are earning $72,000, only 20.7% of school districts pay their teachers more than $100,000 annually. This figure indicates how most teachers will never earn this amount of money.

Teachers’ salaries are significantly lower than other college-educated professionals, as they earn 27% less than workers with college degrees in other professions. There is a more significant gap between teachers’ salaries and other professionals than there was in previous years, making it more difficult for teachers to enter the education sector.

Schools face teacher shortages because salaries are so low. More than half of people working as teachers want to leave the profession because they are either burned out or feel unappreciated for their work. If schools had higher salaries for their teachers, they would be able to attract more workers to their institutions. However, without significantly improving the pay for teachers, they will continue to face teacher shortages.

Despite the necessity for most people to have a place to live, many teachers cannot afford to live in certain areas. The Mar Vista Voice newspaper states that many teachers have to spend a large portion of their income on their housing. Some even must spend over half of their pay on rent. This statistic shows how difficult it is to find affordable housing for these educators. As a result of these teachers not being able to make ends meet, there are often teacher shortages in these areas, or these teachers have to move to another location with a lesser cost of living, which is a difficult task to do.