What specific criteria determines how much an elementary school teacher makes annually in Massachusetts, Vermont, and New Hampshire?

Hi Grace,

In general, the degree you have and years of experience really determine your pay no matter where you live. While this table is a little old, it gives you a good idea of salary: http://www.nea.org/home/2012-2013-average-starting-teacher-salary.html

My best advice is to get your Bachelor's degree, teach a couple of years and then get your Masters!

Much luck to you!!

Stephanie

Hi Grace,

Im unsure of what criteria determines this, but there are definitely some states that pay more than others for teaching jobs. You would need to research the salary schedules of different districts in the state where you would like to work. Next, take a look at the cost of living in the area to ensure that the salary would suffice for living there. Getting a Masters degree would help, but I didn’t find that this helped significantly with my salary over having a Bachelors degree alone (I believe it was a $2,000 yearly bump in pay). The annual pay raises are usually small and districts tend to offset these by going up on the cost of insurance premiums.

Please be mindful of the fact that teaching is a noble and rewarding career. However, everyone knows that they aren’t paid enough for the amount of time (school hours, after school grading, weekend grading, lesson plans, meetings, conferences, professional develop, summer prepping for next year, etc.) Teachers work very hard without the financial reward that should go with it and they definitely deserve more respect.

With that being said, teachers aren’t in it for the money. They are in this career because they love what they do. I loved it too for 8 years until I chose to move on to something else. I miss working with students, but I don’t miss anything else that came with the job.

Good luck to you!