When seeing a list of jobs that pay well, teacher never makes the cut. Professors at a major university can make some pretty good money, but what about public school teachers in k-12? Well, until I read THIS ARTICLE I thought teacher pay was about right. Sure they don’t make as much as other professions, but they get far more time off. So are teachers underpaid, overpaid, or is salary about right?

Well, I was pretty surprised to see:

In fact, the urban areas with the highest teacher pay are famous for their abysmal outcomes. Metro Detroit leads the nation, paying its public school teachers, on average, $47.28 per hour. That’s 61% more than the average white-collar worker in the Detroit area and 36% more than the average professional worker. In metro New York, public school teachers make $45.79 per hour, 20% more than the average professional worker in that area. And in Los Angeles teachers earn $44.03 per hour, 23% higher than other professionals in the area.

And thought the article made some pretty good points:

The fact is that teachers are better paid than most other professionals. What matters is the way that we pay public school teachers, not the amount. The next time politicians call for tax increases to address the problem of terribly underpaid public school teachers, they might be reminded of these facts.

It’s a pretty interesting read and has good breakdowns of the pros and cons of teaching vs. other professions. The full story is HERE.