Teachers can't trust $6k raises to cover living costs
15 posts across 3 communities in the last 60 days; 87% from r/Teachers.
“It gave me a bump of a little less than 3k a year (an extra 150 a paycheck before taxes). It costed me an extra 20-30k to get (14 years ago so I’m sure it more now). It made it almost impossible to get a job right out of university since I also had no experience. I say make sure…”
“I'm teaching Summer school until August 17th! Can't wait to be done with that for real! Also, no, not excited yet. We go back late this September. Plenty of time. I will be starting year 13.”
“Yeah... You can be a dean but those aren't really raises unless you have higher degrees. If you're in secondary then you get to be a head of a department. Yay! Raise but freaking more work for you.....”
Teachers report receiving raises that fail to offset inflation or rising costs of living, leaving them financially strained despite nominal increases. The $6k raise mentioned in one post is emblematic of broader dissatisfaction with compensation.
SOURCES (40)
“Yeah... You can be a dean but those aren't really raises unless you have higher degrees. If you're in secondary then you get to be a head of a department. Yay! Raise but freaking more work for you.....”
“It really depends on area. I’m year 10 and two of my income would put me at the 22% income tax rate or in my state (New England) at middle class. But the swing is huge between districts… I could be making $16k more the next town over.”
“Even so... Teachers shouldn't be making spare change for all the work they do. 47k is low no matter where you live for all the work they do.”
“No offense, but try making $60k in South Florida teaching, where we recently made headlines for being MORE expensive than NYC for cost of living.... Count your blessings because you don't know how good you have it. https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/18/realestate/think-nyc-is-expensive-you-havent-looked-at-south-florida.html”
“I'm in year 15 with a Master's degree. Work in inland California for a high paying district. I'll be taking home about $145k after stipended work and teach on prep is considered.”
“We are paid over 12 months. I know very few teachers that work over the summer because we’re paid very well where I live.”
“From what I've guessed, the average salary is $120k. There is a 30-year veteran on campus making nearly $250K”
“Pay depends on the state , strength of the teacher’s union, and the wealth of the district. 1. Teachers can’t change districts or move easily. It can be done, but it’s not that easy. 2. You’ll hear there’s a shortage but then when you’re looking for a job there aren’t any. It’s a reflection of the economy. When the economy is bad, districts lose because states tighten up budgets and districts do too. Districts sometimes have bond issues that fail. 3. Teacher’s pensions aren’t portable. So if you”
“I mean, in Miami, which is now more expensive to live in that NYC, we start at 50. 66 in Texas sounds quite nice. And that's with a union (that they're desperately trying to get rid of). Although of course we should all be getting more, yes.”
“Taught in the southern U.S. for a decade and then moved to the northeastern U.S. Dunno how it is in Australia, but it is MUCH easier to do my job in New England. Better pay, better benefits, better protections, and parents are really supportive. I don't even teach in a traditionally "high ranking" district by any means. We also don't really have a teacher shortage up here. It's just different in the northeast. I love it. I nearly quit teaching in the South and have renewed”
“Pay isn’t crap everywhere. I’m starting at $75K and peak is $150K. That’s not crap for an elementary school teacher.”
“Probably depends on how long you live. A $70/year pension adds up to a lot if you retire at 55 and live till 90.”
Over the course of a year does the school district pay $75,000 or $62,500?
“Exactly, hes over here saying teachers are making like 150k everywhere, and starting at like 70 or 80k. Im saying that the 150k is cherry picked data and not true, especially as teachers have an attrition rate of about 50 percent after 3 years. Im saying if people have a masters they should be worth at least 100k so idk why hes acting like teachers are overpaid.”
“I am paid for the full year. I get all “5” summer paychecks before the end of the school year. If I don’t budget, that’s on me”
“Even in the rural district I went to HS in, 25 year teachers with a masters make 90-100k in a small town where the average household salary is under 50k. Teachers can fairly easily support a family on one income if they’re halfway decent with money.”
“You get paid a certain amount to be a teacher for the school year, that’s how much you get paid, it’s not a surprise, it doesn’t matter how it’s chopped up. If you want to argue you would get paid more if the school year were longer either number of days or just calendar time from start to finish sure, but that’s a different thing. Ideally you would want to get your whole salary in a lump sum on day one of the school year, but for a lot of what I hope are obvious reasons it doesn’t work like tha”
“$20k The first 3 semesters (including student teaching) were me getting my cert. I lived at home. I finished the last 3 classes online while living on my own. I took out loans to cover it. 2-3ish years. I took a semester off between finishing student teaching and finishing my other classes so I could get acclimated to my new job. Doing everything to initially get my cert was a million times more stressful than finishing the last few classes. I wish I started paying my loans back sooner.”
“It gave me a bump of a little less than 3k a year (an extra 150 a paycheck before taxes). It costed me an extra 20-30k to get (14 years ago so I’m sure it more now). It made it almost impossible to get a job right out of university since I also had no experience. I say make sure this is what you want to do for the rest of your career before putting extra money on your education.”
“I’m a teacher in the south but here are your answers 1) 10-11k (estimate including textbooks) 2) I worked a year and a half before starting my masters so I was able to save for the first two semesters before starting. I also tutored/did clubs, couponed for groceries, and just penny pinched a lot 3) 18 months 4) it wasn’t too stressful, but I did have my moments if I procrastinated too much. My social life was so/so, but I also had a new dog that needed to be trained the first 6 months and was re”
“In large cities especially it's probably cheaper to do that than to pay them enough to live nearby.”
“32 years in the profession-I’m sad that you don’t recognize how hard teachers work and how little they are compensated. Most of us don’t get “10 weeks of vacation” we actually have to side work summer school, grocery store, lifeguarding, summer camps etc in order to be able to live. I don’t think you understand that they way op said this sounded like bragging how lucky teachers are to have vacation… it belittles the profession when it’s said like this rather than, gosh teachers should be better”
“I'm making nearly 100k a year, 10th year teacher. Half my monthly check goes towards mortgage 😭”
“Yeah I’ve seen some districts where family coverage is like $1600 a month. I’m glad I’ll be paying under $800 a month this year.”
“I was hired halfway into the school year, so they deducted a lot of my pay, but on paper I should have been paid close to 76k before taxes, 403(b), and other deductions. However, I was paid 64k before everything. My take-home was close to 4.5k. I was only paid on the first step without my master’s and units. I was really pissed and disappointed about this. I was told that since I was new, I hadn’t started my first year yet. If I stayed with my current district, my salary would bump up to the las”
That website includes benefits as part of salaries as well.
“In my district the longtime teachers who have been in the district for 20ish years make over $100k, but that’s after 20 years and extensive trainings, masters degrees, etc. My first year teaching I started on the lowest point of the pay scale at $49k but was able to supplement it with teaching two extracurricular classes each term and a stipend for running the theatre program. Most teachers in my district probably fall around $75k. I’m at $59k now and still struggle to make ends meet. Living her”
“Can retire at 59 (11 years) as teaching is a second career and I’ll have a pension from my previous job as well. My wife will have to work 8 years past me, so I don’t know if I will”
“Well, considering that this year, as a teacher on step 21 I’m only making $862 more than a first year teacher yeah. No masters pay either. NCGOP sucks. 😒”
“The mentality of spending thousands on bs training classes, but, but, but no raises.”