Wage Gap: States with lowest-paid teachers, compared with other college graduates

Aug. 16, 2016
In all 50 states, the average wages of teachers are lower than the average wages of other college graduates.

On average, teachers' wages are just 77 percent of what other college graduates receive, a report from the Economic Policy Institute says.

Using data through 2015 from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the institute found that the wage gap between teachers and other college graduates is growing wider.

The statistics show that in all 50 states, teachers' wages on average are lower than wages for other college graduates. Arizona, where teachers' average salaries are 62.8 percent of other college graduates, has the widest gap; Wyoming has the narrowest gap, with 98.6 percent.

"If the policy goal is to improve the quality of the entire teaching workforce, then raising the level of teacher compensation, including wages, is critical to recruiting and retaining higher-quality teachers," the Institute asserts.

Here are the 10 states where the teacher wage gap was the widest.

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