Study: Teachers paid most in R.I.

PROVIDENCE – When it comes to pay, the place for teachers to be is Rhode Island, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and Bureau of Economic Analysis compiled by Rasmussen College, a for-profit private college with 24 campuses in five Midwestern states and Florida.
The college released an interactive salary comparison tool that allows users to plug in occupations and discover which states pay the most – or the least – for certain professions. The graph shows average salary, and also average salaries adjusted for cost of living.
Rhode Island’s teachers, according to the survey, are paid an average of $69,420, and $70,334 when salary is adjusted for cost of living. Idaho ranks at the bottom for $19,120 and $20,427, respectively.
Surgeons make the most in Kansas at $277,820 when adjusting for cost of living. That compares with $245,420 in Rhode Island.
The top state for lawyers is Delaware with an average adjusted salary at $133,861, comparing with $87,305 in Rhode Island.
Police average $37,000 in Rhode Island; Washington D.C. pays the most at approximately $54,000 when adjusting for cost of living, and Florida the least, at $31,000.
Retail workers fare best in North Dakota at a nearly $25,000 adjusted salary, compared with Rhode Island’s $22,806 and the worst paying state, Maryland, at $18,410.
As for all occupations, Washington D.C., workers earn the most before and after salaries are adjusted for cost of living, $63,680 and $53,875. Rhode Island ranks 11th for highest average salary at $37,500 and 9th when salary is adjusted for cost of living at $37,994. Mississippi ranked lowest for average salary at $28,240, and Florida, lowest when salary is adjusted for cost of living, at $31,032.
View the graph HERE.

No posts to display

3 COMMENTS

  1. If you follow their link to the actual chart, you will discover that the numbers quoted cannot actually be obtained from the chart. There is no category for just “teacher” and there is not enough information in the chart to manipulate the data to get their numbers. Remember, you can’t average averages. (If you don’t know why, ask a math teacher; or an accountant.) I looked at the numbers the chart produces for regular “Secondary School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education”. The RI number is close to the number in the article, but the Idaho number is more than twice as large. Their point that RI is near the top is accurate. I also question how the cost of living adjustments are made. I think it probably doesn’t make sense to compute cost of living adjustment factors for entire states like NY where you will be averaging one very high urban areas with a bunch of rural and economically hard-hit small cities. Just my opinion.

  2. Please look at this link. Here it shows teacher pay has actually declined in real dollars in RI.

    Table 211.60. Estimated average annual salary of teachers in public elementary and secondary schools, by state: Selected years, 1969-70 through 2012-13

    http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d13/tables/dt13_211.60.asp