Across the United States, there's a massive disparity in teacher salary levels. Yesterday marked National Teacher Appreciation Day and to mark the occasion, the Bureau of Labor Statistics published salary listings for high school teachers in all 50 states. Alaska has the highest average annual salary for teachers in the U.S. at $85,420. That's over twice the amount their colleagues make in lowest-ranked Oklahoma where the annual pay packet averages just $41,880.
Pay is generally lowest across the south of the country with Louisiana ($50,700), Alabama ($49,790) and Mississippi ($46,370) all joining Oklahoma in the bottom-10. Interestingly, in some cases, there are pay differences of more than $25,000 between neighboring states. California and Arizona are good examples where high school teachers take home an average of $77,390 and $48,050 respectively. The poor salaries and funding in Oklahoma resulted in nine-day teacher strikes last month, with educators demanding a $10,000 pay rise over three years. The situation has become so severe that around a quarter of teachers in Oklahoma City are leaving their jobs every year while the state is struggling to find and keep qualified replacements.
*Click below to enlarge (charted by Statista)
