That pesky teacher pay gap analysis is out - and once again, it tells the story: America is not a fan of teachers.
Here’s the big takeaway:
In 2025, the teacher pay penalty stood at an estimated 25.2%—meaning teachers earned about a quarter less than comparable college graduates in other professions. That’s a slight improvement from 2024’s record high of 26.9%, but still more than four times the 6.1% penalty recorded in 1996.
The teacher pay penalty was 6.1% in 1996 and it is 25.2% today.
Here’s what that means. Someone who became a teacher in the 1980s and 1990s knew they’d likely earn less than similarly-educated professional peers, but also knew the benefits package (often including pensions and quality health insurance offerings) would make up for it.
30 years later, someone becoming a teacher makes substantially less - and even if you include benefits (which have been adjusted down in many states), the gap remains at nearly 15%.
Teacher pay has effectively stagnated - while the responsibilities assigned to teachers have increased.
Which may offer one explanation for the teacher shortage that’s now turning into a crisis.
Barnum and Fernandez note several of the obvious reasons that teaching is a less attractive profession these days. Low pay, especially if you compare it to the pay for similarly-educated professions. The rising tide of bad behavior from students. The onslaught of attention-sapping technology. The insistence that good education is only for the right people and for other people we just need schools to crank out compliant meat widgets to serve corporate overlords.
The Economic Policy Institute also provides additional insight into the teacher pay penalty:
Inflation-adjusted weekly wages for public school teachers fell 6.2% over the last three decades, while wages for other college graduates rose 28.8% over the same period.
America doesn’t respect or value teachers. The numbers make it clear.
Tennessee
In Tennessee, the story is particularly bleak.
The teacher pay penalty is nearly 30% - worse than the national average.
Tennessee is also now the state that invests the least in public education.
A recent story about Tennessee school funding notes not only is the state dead last in the nation in school funding, but also, the state’s investment in schools has dropped by 10% since the 2023-24 school year.
And, we’re losing teachers because our leadership chooses NOT to invest in them.
Tennessee classrooms are losing teachers at a higher rate than any other state in the nation, according to a new report from the National Education Association.
The report found Tennessee saw the largest percentage decline in its teacher workforce between the 2023-24 and 2024-25 school years, losing 10.36% of its educators during that period, or more than 7,400 teachers.
All I know is that everything is too expensive in the states.
Teachers, nurses, law enforcement (excluding ICE) and fire fighters all should make much, much more than they do.