These Are The 10 Best Cities For Teachers

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Whether you’re just starting out your career, or looking to make a move, it can be important to know what part of the country offers the best chance for your long term career prospects. And for a very common profession like Teachers, the regional differences can have a big impact on your salary and career options.

To help you make the best decision possible, we at Zippia wanted to look at the cities that offer teachers the most for their career. These are the cities across the US where teachers get paid well, relative to the cost of living, and jobs are plentiful.

So we did what we do best and dove into the numbers from the BLS to figure out which cities have the best opportunities for teachers.The result is this list of the best cities teachers:

So there you have it — East Stroudsburg is the best city when it comes to being a teacher.

And where should you consider avoiding if you’re a teacher? That would be Asheville, NC.

Read on to see how we completed our research on the best cities for teachers and for more on the top ten cities.

How we determined the best cities to be a teachers?

Here at Zippia, we talk to a lot of people of all different backgrounds looking for jobs. Our research has concluded that there are two common things people want in a job:

Availability of jobs
Pay

So in order to find out the best cities for teachers in America we needed to figure out where the jobs are and how well teachers get paid. This led to the following criteria taken from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’s Occupational Employment Statistics for 2015:

Location quotient. A measure of how common a job is in a given city.
Average annual salary.
Average annual salary for entry level work.

To make all the salary numbers more apples to apples across cities, we compared the salary data relative to the state’s cost of living from MIT’s living wage index.

This left us with enough data for 380 metro areas across the country. We then took the primary area of the metro and labeled that the ‘city’ for this analysis. So, for example, “Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA NECTA Division” became simply Boston.

In order to develop an overall ranking, we ranked each city for each criteria from 1 to 380 where 1 was the best.

We then averaged all the rankings for a city into a Job Score with the city having the lowest overall Job Score earning the distinction of being the best city for teachers in America.

So without further ado, let’s get into just what made each city so great for teachers.

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1. East Stroudsburg, PA

Total Jobs: 1,170
Average Annual Salary: $68,960
Average Entry Level Salary: $49,810
Location Quotient: 2.13

2. Waterbury, CT

Total Jobs: 1,040
Average Annual Salary: $82,290
Average Entry Level Salary: $55,950
Location Quotient: 1.54

3. Merced, CA

Total Jobs: 1,430
Average Annual Salary: $73,510
Average Entry Level Salary: $49,990
Location Quotient: 2.24

4. Hinesville, GA

Total Jobs: 360
Average Annual Salary: $65,070
Average Entry Level Salary: $40,380
Location Quotient: 2.16

5. Kingston, NY

Total Jobs: 770
Average Annual Salary: $89,290
Average Entry Level Salary: $53,250
Location Quotient: 1.32

6. Redding, CA

Total Jobs: 900
Average Annual Salary: $74,460
Average Entry Level Salary: $50,010
Location Quotient: 1.53

7. Modesto, CA

Total Jobs: 2,120
Average Annual Salary: $77,360
Average Entry Level Salary: $53,540
Location Quotient: 1.28

8. Brunswick, GA

Total Jobs: 490
Average Annual Salary: $66,810
Average Entry Level Salary: $44,710
Location Quotient: 1.25

9. Chambersburg, PA

Total Jobs: 1,180
Average Annual Salary: $60,940
Average Entry Level Salary: $44,170
Location Quotient: 2.07

10. Riverside, CA

Total Jobs: 16,690
Average Annual Salary: $75,950
Average Entry Level Salary: $52,420
Location Quotient: 1.27

And that’s our list of the best cities for teachers

If you’re looking to start out your career as a teacher these are the cities that should be at the top of your list. You’ll find high pay, available jobs, and chances for career advancement.

If you’re curious, here are the worst cities to be a teacher in America:

Asheville
Billings
Wilmington

Detailed List Of The Best Cities For Teachers

Rank	State	Average Salary	Entry Level Salary	# Of People
1	East Stroudsburg, PA	$68,960	$49,810	1,170
2	Waterbury, CT	$82,290	$55,950	1,040
3	Merced, CA	$73,510	$49,990	1,430
4	Hinesville, GA	$65,070	$40,380	360
5	Kingston, NY	$89,290	$53,250	770
6	Redding, CA	$74,460	$50,010	900
7	Modesto, CA	$77,360	$53,540	2,120
8	Brunswick, GA	$66,810	$44,710	490
9	Chambersburg, PA	$60,940	$44,170	1,180
10	Riverside, CA	$75,950	$52,420	16,690
11	Atlantic City, NJ	$70,170	$51,090	1,840
12	Clarksville, TN	$58,310	$41,830	1,220
13	Akron, OH	$61,330	$41,430	3,970
14	Hanford, CA	$72,420	$46,740	780
15	El Centro, CA	$70,630	$47,740	1,200
16	Newark, NJ	$68,920	$51,480	14,680
17	Rockford, IL	$76,650	$41,440	2,240
18	Bridgeport, CT	$79,120	$50,840	5,140
19	Visalia, CA	$68,920	$50,420	2,090
20	Yuba City, CA	$70,430	$46,380	990
21	Danbury, CT	$75,360	$51,810	970
22	Kankakee, IL	$67,800	$43,480	570
23	McAllen, TX	$54,210	$42,000	5,880
24	San Rafael, CA	$71,460	$52,410	1,290
25	Ocean City, NJ	$67,540	$50,800	480
26	Fresno, CA	$77,310	$50,510	3,650
27	Decatur, AL	$51,360	$41,500	800
28	Santa Maria, CA	$74,000	$49,500	2,060
29	Santa Fe, NM	$69,290	$47,700	590
30	Lima, OH	$56,490	$36,610	710
31	Salinas, CA	$69,740	$45,870	2,420
32	Camden, NJ	$66,300	$51,160	6,040
33	Houston, TX	$57,530	$43,240	34,280
34	Bremerton, WA	$62,670	$45,580	910
35	Dutchess County, NY	$82,380	$54,090	1,330
36	Mount Vernon, WA	$62,090	$44,820	510
37	Anchorage, AK	$75,190	$55,260	1,660
38	Oxnard, CA	$71,670	$49,940	3,150
39	Scranton, PA	$60,440	$41,430	3,120
40	Springfield, OH	$56,730	$36,410	590
41	El Paso, TX	$52,550	$41,770	4,640
42	Birmingham, AL	$51,430	$39,900	6,740
43	Dayton, OH	$59,400	$37,980	3,970
44	San Antonio, TX	$53,120	$42,540	12,660
45	Killeen, TX	$52,130	$40,980	2,390
46	Lebanon, PA	$63,210	$43,820	480
47	Reading, PA	$59,820	$40,630	2,100
48	Tacoma, WA	$61,560	$44,090	3,100
49	Stockton, CA	$68,140	$47,820	2,640
50	Nassau County, NY	$97,800	$49,820	12,340
51	York, PA	$63,260	$38,470	2,120
52	Vallejo, CA	$67,970	$42,920	2,350
53	Gainesville, GA	$54,470	$37,250	1,280
54	Spartanburg, SC	$53,880	$36,670	2,020
55	Athens, GA	$57,060	$37,830	1,040
56	Elizabethtown, KY	$53,990	$40,240	490
57	Daphne, AL	$49,130	$38,210	1,160
58	Hammond, LA	$49,210	$41,300	840
59	Flint, MI	$61,720	$36,880	1,570
60	Shreveport, LA	$51,040	$41,500	2,490
61	Bakersfield, CA	$63,790	$46,270	4,170
62	Rome, GA	$53,300	$37,260	550
63	Brockton, MA	$74,160	$48,360	820
64	Yakima, WA	$57,380	$39,440	1,360
65	Philadelphia, PA	$64,220	$39,530	9,060
66	Wenatchee, WA	$58,700	$40,710	510
67	Columbus, GA	$50,690	$39,230	1,940
68	Oakland, CA	$74,440	$47,490	10,170
69	Corpus Christi, TX	$56,830	$41,490	1,960
70	Brownsville, TX	$48,980	$40,800	2,360
71	Montgomery, AL	$49,210	$40,020	1,940
72	Anniston, AL	$47,590	$37,980	730
73	Monroe, LA	$48,950	$40,500	1,280
74	Atlanta, GA	$54,190	$39,710	28,950
75	Huntsville, AL	$51,440	$38,920	2,390
76	Augusta, GA	$54,380	$36,630	3,050
77	Wilmington, DE	$61,300	$40,760	4,520
78	Owensboro, KY	$50,560	$37,100	500
79	Barnstable Town, MA	$75,950	$50,200	930
80	Elgin, IL	$63,680	$36,990	4,280
81	Dallas, TX	$54,270	$41,960	24,490
82	Olympia, WA	$60,360	$42,190	1,090
83	Muskegon, MI	$57,400	$36,510	780
84	Fort Worth, TX	$54,080	$41,850	10,120
85	Louisville/Jefferson County, KY	$57,450	$40,550	4,660
86	Williamsport, PA	$57,810	$42,630	540
87	Jackson, MI	$59,420	$35,900	730
88	Lexington, KY	$54,420	$40,680	2,010
89	Cincinnati, OH	$57,210	$36,220	10,070
90	Longview, WA	$59,610	$40,460	390
91	Fairbanks, AK	$101,190	$63,380	130
92	St. Louis, MO	$57,470	$35,000	13,980
93	Lynn, MA	$67,220	$43,870	630
94	Sherman, TX	$48,520	$39,940	650
95	Hartford, CT	$74,210	$46,390	5,620
96	Providence, RI	$69,260	$44,090	4,740
97	New Haven, CT	$73,600	$43,890	3,040
98	Bellingham, WA	$62,800	$42,810	720
99	Trenton, NJ	$67,130	$45,370	2,170
100	Anaheim, CA	$76,250	$49,620	10,330

Never miss an opportunity that’s right for you.

Author

Chris Kolmar

Chris Kolmar is a co-founder of Zippia and the editor-in-chief of the Zippia career advice blog. He has hired over 50 people in his career, been hired five times, and wants to help you land your next job. His research has been featured on the New York Times, Thrillist, VOX, The Atlantic, and a host of local news. More recently, he's been quoted on USA Today, BusinessInsider, and CNBC.

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