EVERYBODY SHOULD MOVE TO MASSACHUSETTS: If you are considering becoming a teacher, run away from the West. And from the South. Personal finance website The Wallet analyzed different datasets to find out which were the best and the worst states to be a teacher. At the top of the list for the ideal teaching climate: Massachusetts, while West Virginia took last place.
To come up with the ranking, WalletHub considered 13 factors, such as the average starting salary for teachers and their median annual salaries (both adjusted for cost of living), teachers' income growth potential, unemployment rate, pupil-to-teacher ratio, safety, public school spending per student and average commute time. The website compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia.
On the top of the list, with better overall conditions for teaching, are Massachusetts (1), Virginia (2), Minnesota (3), Wyoming (4), and New Jersey (5). At the bottom are Oregon (47), Mississippi (48), Arizona (49), North Carolina (50), and West Virginia (51). California fell into the bottom half of the list, taking 36th place.
See each state's position in the map below.
Source: WalletHub
