Right off the bat, I'd say not enough. It's always puzzled me that one of the most important and beneficial to society jobs there is, doesn't pay a whole lot more than it does.

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Each state maintains a lot of control over curriculum, academic standards, etc. Individual states also set teacher salaries.

Average salaries for teachers nationwide vary quite a bit. It all depends on the state.  Salaries across the country vary from $45,300 to $85,000.  That's quite a difference. When salaries are adjusted for the state's cost of living, the difference actually isn't that great.

According to 24/7Wall St, the average salary nationwide for teachers is $65,977.  Minnesota ranks number 20 on the list of states for teachers pay. The average salary for a Minnesota teacher is $63,497 and when adjusted for the cost of living in Minnesota, it's more like $64,767.

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States that have lower teacher's salaries also tend to spend less on education overall.  Minnesota spends about $12,975 per student, which is above the national average of $12,612.

Some research would lead us to believe that the more spent on education, the better the outcome. That doesn't seem to be the case in Minnesota.  We have a high school graduation rate of 80.6% and the national average is 85.3%.

It's crazy to me that the most essential occupations are the ones that pay the least. Who can argue the importance of teachers to society. We should just be grateful, I guess, that our teachers are in the field out of dedication instead of the paycheck. All the same, I think they should be paid a lot more.

The lowest paying states for teachers is our neighbor to the south, South Dakota. There average annual pay is only around $50,000.


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