Geography Matters

Why Geography Really Matters

Where you work has a significant impact on how much you earn

No one chooses to be a teacher because of the money. But where you teach can have a significant impact on what you're paid, as well as the resources that are likely to be at your disposal. We're the only nation in the industrialized world which has a highly decentralized system. Our system assigns different learning opportunities according to where children live.

Teachers in Connecticut, for example, earn twice as much as teachers in Mississippi. They reach the top of the pay scale in six to seven years, while teachers in some Southern states need 30 to 50 years to get to the top. Connecticut classrooms are also more likely to be better stocked, since school boards have more funds to disperse.

The contrasts are even starker when the United States is compared with Europe. Senior primary school teachers in Zurich, Switzerland, earn on average more than U.S. Teachers. At the high school level, Swiss teachers earn almost double what their American counterparts do.

Part of the explanation for the salary gap is that European teachers tend to be better trained. In most European countries, teachers are required to have two to three years of postgraduate study before qualifying to teach 11th and 12 th grades. In the United States, a college degree is sufficient. Even so, the American Federation of Teachers reports that about 45 percent of American elementary teachers and 65 percent of high school teachers earn a master's degree by mid-career.

The sea at Nassau, Bahamas. Photo by Elena.