Massachusetts Ranked Best State for Teachers

Along with nurses, social workers, journalists and others, teachers are generally known to be among the most underpaid professionals. While those who choose such public service careers don’t usually do so for the money, that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be compensated fairly.

Teachers across the country are routinely shortchanged, especially considering the important impact they make on individuals and on society as a whole. But in Massachusetts, teachers have a much better working environment than their peers around the country, according to a recent WalletHub study.

The commonwealth is the best place in the country to be a teacher, the website reports. Educators generally teach in quality school systems that invest in education, are paid well above the median salaries nationwide, and have among the lowest student-to-teacher ratios.

Teachers in Massachusetts are the 5th highest paid in the country, when adjusted for cost of living, the site reports. While it varies by town, teachers in the commonwealth earn an average salary of $71,000 a year, according to the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.

Beyond salary, teachers in Massachusetts enjoy the 11th-lowest student-to-teacher ratio, work in schools collectively ranked tops in the nation, and teach in towns that support school systems with the eighth-highest public investment of the 50 states and District of Columbia.

WalletHub ranks Massachusetts 9th in “Job Opportunity and Competition” — which measures teacher unemployment, number of teachers compared to number of students, salaries, etc. — and 3rd in “Academic and Work Environment” — which measures school safety, student-to-teacher ratio, average commute time, public school spending, etc.

The rankings combine to earn Massachusetts the top spot for teachers, followed by Virginia, Minnesota, Wyoming and New Jersey. The five worst states to be a teacher, according to WalletHub, are Oregon, Mississippi, Arizona, North Carolina and West Virginia.

Read WalletHub’s full report and methodology here.