Illinois teacher salaries are third-highest in the nation, report says

Sep 29, 2014

Illinois teachers have the third-highest salaries in the country when the wages are adjusted for cost of living, according to a new WalletHub report.

The report, which looked at which states were the best for teachers overall, found that Illinois ranked in the middle of all states when several factors were considered, such as teacher competition, school spending and student-to-teacher ratios.About a fifth of all new public school teachers in the country leave before the end of their first year on the job and half are gone by the fifth year of their employment, the report found, often because they are “feeling overwhelmed, ineffective, and unsupported.”

From WalletHub:

Most educators don’t pursue their profession for the money. That’s a no-brainer these days. But that also doesn’t justify low pay, especially for a profession that makes such a profound difference in young people’s lives. And the sad reality is this: Many teachers are shortchanged with salaries that fail to keep up with inflation. Meanwhile, their workloads have grown with heightened demand from the law to elicit better student performance.

To come up with its overall rankings, WalletHub looked at highest annual salaries, highest population between the ages 5 to 17 by 2030, lowest competition, lowest pupil-to-teacher ratio, highest public school spending per student and best school systems’ ranking, among other factors. These factors were split into two main categories: Competition and opportunity as well as academic and work environment.

On the overall list, Illinois ranked No. 22. Wyoming was ranked as the No. one state best overall for teachers, followed by Pennsylvania and Minnesota. Illinois neighbors Wisconsin and Iowa also made the top at six and 10 respectively. North Carolina was ranked as the worst state for teachers, followed by Mississippi and West Virginia.

In the two main break downs, Illinois ranked No. 19 in the competition and opportunity category and No. 28 in the academic and work environment category.

Check out this map from WalletHub to see every state’s overall rankings:

Illinois ranked third out of all 50 states and the District of Columbia for the highest annual teacher salaries (adjusted for cost of living). The other top four states with the highest-paid teachers were Michigan, Ohio, Washington and Wyoming. Those with the lowest-paid teachers were Hawaii, South Dakota, the District of Columbia, Arizona and North Carolina.

According to the Illinois State Board of Education, the median starting salary for a teacher with a bachelor’s degree for the 2013-2014 school year in Illinois was $36,635.  After five years, state law dictates that public school teachers with bachelor’s degrees be making $1,000 more than their district’s starting salary for teachers with that degree and teachers with a master’s be making $1,250 more than their district’s starting salary for teachers with master’s.

 

 

NEXT ARTICLE: Why do we boost salaries and teacher pensions 24 percent or more?

 

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   Caitlin Wilson is a staff writer for Reboot Illinois. She graduated from Loyola University Chicago, where she studied journalism and political science. Caitlin has become both endeared to and frustrated with her adopted home state and wants to bring Illinoisans the information they need to actively participate in the politics that directly affect them.  You can find Reboot on Facebook here and on Twitter at @rebootillinois.