- Utah ranked second in WalletHub's "Best States for Teachers" analysis.
- Competitive wages for Utah teachers helped boost the state's ratings.
- Teachers in Utah and beyond are plying their trade at a volatile moment for K-12 education across the country.
If the “Best States for Teachers” was an Olympics event, Utah would be standing on the medal podium, according to a recent WalletHub analysis.
The personal finance website ranks Utah as the second best state in the country for teachers — just a spot behind Virginia.
Teaching jobs are reportedly among the lowest-paying occupations requiring a bachelor’s degree — and teacher salaries consistently fail to keep up with inflation. Additionally, K-12 teachers in the U.S. earn an average of almost $4,000 less per year than they did 16 years ago when adjusted for inflation, reported WalletHub.
But Utah boasts the second-highest average annual starting salary in the nation, after adjusting for the cost of living, at $53,748.
Teachers in Utah also reportedly enjoy the country’s second-best 10-year change in teacher salaries, with incomes increasing by 50% over the past decade.
“In addition, Utah offers tenure to teachers after only three years — and the projected number of teachers per 1,000 students by 2032 is the 13th-lowest in the country, which leaves room for plenty of opportunities for new teachers,” the report noted.
Meanwhile, the Beehive State reportedly offers “moderate tenure protection.”
“Despite having one of the most crucial jobs in America — educating the next generation — teachers are often underpaid and underappreciated,” said WalletHub analyst Chip Lupo in the report.
“The states that make a teacher career the most rewarding are those that compensate educators well, invest heavily in educational resources, pass laws that improve school-system quality and provide supportive conditions that lead to lower turnover.”
Several positives for Utah teachers — and some concerns
Utah’s “silver medal” slot in the WalletHub report was the combined result of earning a No. 1 ranking in the study’s “Opportunity & Competition” rankings — and the No. 11 spot in “Academic & Work Environment.”
Beyond its No. 2 ranking for average starting salary for teachers, here’s how Utah fared in several other rankings from the report:
- 14th - Average salary for teachers, adjusted for cost of living.
- 12th - Quality of school system.
- 20th - Teachers’ income growth potential.
- 2nd - 10-year change in teacher salaries.
Besides Utah and No. 1 Virginia, the other three states cracking the report’s “Best States for Teachers” overall top-5 list include Washington, New York and Illinois.
And the “worst” five states: South Dakota, New Hampshire, Maine, Montana and Hawaii.
Virginia, according to the report, enjoys the highest income growth potential in the country. The average starting salary for Old Dominion teachers is 14th in the nation — but “educators can end up seeing big gains throughout the course of their careers.”
Washington, meanwhile, earns a top-3 spot in the study, in part, because teacher pay in the state is rapidly improving.
Washington has experienced the largest change in teacher salaries over the past 10 years, with an increase of over 75%. The state also has the second-highest average annual salary, after adjusting for the cost of living, at $79,774, and the fourth-highest average starting salary, at $50,369, according to the report.
Despite the high numbers related to salaries for Utah teachers, the WalletHub report revealed a few less-than-positive rankings for the state’s K-12 school system.
Utah ranked 48th in “Pupil-Teacher Ratio” and 49th in “Public School Spending per Student.”
Methodology: So how did WalletHub come up with its rankings?
To determine which states are the most teacher-friendly, WalletHub compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia across a pair of key dimensions: “Opportunity & Competition” and “Academic & Work Environment.”
Given the importance of competitive salaries and job security, the study assigned significantly heavier weight to “Opportunity & Competition.”
Metrics considered in the “Opportunity & Competition” dimension include:
- Average starting salary for teachers.
- Average salary for teachers.
- Teachers’ income growth potential.
- 10-year change in teacher salaries.
- Average teacher pension.
- Length of time before tenure kicks in — and teacher tenure protections.
- Teacher preparation program completion for both undergraduate and graduate students to become licensed teachers.
Metrics considered in the “Academic & Work Environment” dimension include:
- Existence of digital learning plan.
- Quality of school system.
- Pupil-teacher ratio.
- Public-school spending per student.
- Projected share of teacher turnover
- Share of teachers who feel supported by their administration.
- Working mom friendliness.
Teachers plying their trade at a volatile moment in education
The country’s K-12 education system — and, by extension, the teaching profession — is being scrutinized at historic levels.
The updated 2024 results, by the National Center for Education Statistics, or NCES, are the first post-pandemic NAEP scores for each assessment.
“These results are sobering,” NCES acting Commissioner Matthew Soldner said in a news release. “The drop in overall scores coincides with significant declines in achievement among our lowest-performing students, continuing a downward trend that began even before the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Among our nation’s high school seniors, we’re now seeing a larger percentage of students scoring below the NAEP Basic achievement level in mathematics and reading than in any previous assessment.”
The Nation’s Report Card, according to Department of Education Secretary Linda McMahon, “confirms a devastating trend: American students are testing at historic lows across all of K-12.”
According to data in January, Utah students performed “significantly higher” in math than the national public average for both fourth and eighth graders in 2024.
And Utah’s fourth and eighth graders also outperformed their national counterparts, on average, in reading.
But the average reading score for eighth grade students in Utah was lower than their average from two years earlier, prompting concern from the state’s education leaders.
The latest NAEP results also provide new information about students’ educational experiences. Of note, the 2024 results are the first national indicator of post-pandemic absenteeism rates among 12th graders.
Nearly a third (31%) of U.S. 12th graders reported missing three or more days from school in the previous month in 2024, up from 26% in 2019.
The findings reflect similar patterns seen in previously released NAEP results for fourth and eighth graders.
The Utah State Board of Education recently launched an “Every Day Counts” campaign to address chronic absenteeism in the state’s K-12 schools.