The best and worst states for teachers: Study

Yahoo Finance Video
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Some states are a step ahead of others in creating a "teacher-friendly" environment, according to a new study by personal finance site WalletHub revealing the best and worst states for teachers. Yahoo Finance's Reggie Wade breaks down the report.

Video Transcript

- WalletHub is out with a new report revealing the best and worst states for teachers. Reggie Wade is digging into this for us. And Reggie, these 24 different metrics to identify the best and worst states. What did they find?

REGGIE WADE: Yes, Shana. Those metrics included starting salary, average salary, income growth, potential change in wages over time, pension, and workforce competition. And we have the top five. The top state for teachers is New York. And no, it isn't just because I taught there, they actually said that knocked it down a little bit but no. The Empire State is number one. That is followed by Utah, Washington, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey.

However, teaching in New York wasn't without its downsides. The state did not score well when it came to support from administration and public school enrollment growth. On the flip side, the five worst states for teachers based on the survey's criteria were, New Hampshire, Washington DC, Maine, Arizona, and Montana. And when it came to teacher turnover, Kentucky actually write best when it came to that factor. And Washington DC had the highest teacher turnover rate.

- Reggie, I'm curious, what are they doing correctly if that's the right way to describe it, in Massachusetts?

REGGIE WADE: Well, Massachusetts has some of the highest academic standards in the country. So it's really a treat for teachers to teach there. And that's actually one reason, it's funny, it didn't rank higher on the list because one of the criterias is how easy is it to get a job in that market. And it's very tough to become a teacher in Massachusetts because there's so much competition. So many people want to teach in that state. So that's actually what knocked it down lower.

- Reggie, what about pay? We know that that's important to a lot of people. Just in terms of where that stands in various states. Who comes out on top?

REGGIE WADE: Well, the highest national average pay for public school teachers when you adjust it for cost of living is New York. It's average comes in at 77,867. But actually, Texas has the highest annual starting salary for teachers. That's starting salary at 46,073 and that's 1 and 1/2 times higher than Maine, the state that has the lowest starting salary at 31,166.

- All right. Reggie Wade, thanks so much for giving us the details on that. Again, a new WalletHub survey showing the best and worst states for teachers right now.