Teachers Are Paid Less to Commute

Long commutes are taxing. Even more than the $0.55 that the IRS values each mile, commuting costs us time, health, sleep, and freedom — but that’s the necessary tradeoff for the ~~otherwise~~ dream job, right?

Well, not for American teachers. Our study of commute times and teachers’ salaries found that educators are compensated significantly less for traveling farther to and from work than jobs with similar salaries — and despite this, teaching in an area with a higher living wage results in longer commutes.

We also ranked states by commute times for teachers to give you perspective. States are ranked by teacher commute times with the full list below; but first, here’s a quick look at the top ten.

Read further to see much farther your states’ educators have to drive for the dollar — if you’re a teacher considering a move, then this will be worth your time (even if commuting longer isn’t).

Fancy school districts may mean longer commutes

An NPR story recently showed that teachers often can’t afford to live near their schools — and we found that states with higher living wages also tend to have longer commute times.

We used BLS data to set the nationwide teachers’ median salary at $56,700, which we used as a baseline to find the intercept with other industries’ commute times — we got these from the Census Bureau’s latest American Community Survey data.

Teachers earn less money for traveling farther

In terms of salary for each additional minute commuting, teachers have to commute farther than other professions to see a bump in pay — for every extra $10,000 they would hope to earn, they have to commute 60 percent farther

To provide a real life example, consider the states with the shortest and longest teacher commutes, Alaska (13 minutes) and New York (26 minutes). Based on a 180-day school year, that 100 percent different equates to an additional 78 hours a year that New York teachers spend commuting for the same salary.

And if we’re valuing your time by your salary, the shorter commute for living in Alaska is analogous to a $2,000 salary bonus.

Teachers may have figured this out

However, we also found that teachers spend less times on their commutes, perhaps incentivized by our earlier finding. For other professions earning $56,700, the teacher median salary, you’ll need to commute about four minutes more.

It appears that teachers have done the math themselves, even if it’s not the subject they teach: there’s not much value added by traveling long distances for work.

The reason

Teaching is hardly your typical profession, in that makes a teaching position great for a teacher isn’t as dependent upon salary as it is location, students, parents, and administration — which complicates the explanation for this economic phenomenon. The likely reasons: the inherent dispersion of public schools and salaries that are largely structured.

Schools are necessarily spread throughout districts, with institutions instructing similar grade levels rarely in close proximity. Teachers typically certify in specific grade ranges; and unless they choose to move their residences, decisions to change schools within their district requires a larger-than-average difference in commute.

And because districts usually operate within structured pay scales, moving for a significantly different salary often requires changing districts. This would require an even farther commute if the teacher were to stay at their current home, while districts with higher pay generally correlate to overall higher cost of living.

Ranking of states by teacher commute times

Rank	State	Commute Time	State Living Wage
1	AK	13	54,400
2	WY	13	47,951
3	ND	14	46,814
4	MT	15	47,083
5	SD	15	45,410
6	KS	16	48,054
7	IA	16	48,882
8	NE	16	48,076
9	UT	16	47,922
10	ID	17	45,801
11	OK	18	46,613
12	AR	18	44,571
13	NM	18	48,050
14	MS	18	46,084
15	WV	19	44,823
16	MO	19	46,159
17	IN	19	46,838
18	LA	19	47,975
19	OR	19	51,900
20	MN	19	52,115
21	NC	19	49,575
22	KY	19	43,308
23	WI	19	51,120
24	OH	19	45,853
25	TN	20	46,785
26	WA	20	51,271
27	NV	20	52,698
28	TX	20	48,160
29	AZ	20	51,341
30	VT	20	51,977
31	CO	20	53,792
32	DE	20	53,112
33	AL	20	45,824
34	SC	20	46,568
35	MI	21	48,837
36	ME	21	51,305
37	GA	21	47,946
38	VA	21	54,264
39	FL	22	52,206
40	CT	22	59,502
41	RI	22	53,240
42	PA	22	49,914
43	NH	22	55,103
44	IL	23	52,304
45	CA	23	57,315
46	MA	23	59,560
47	HI	24	60,700
48	NJ	24	56,109
49	MD	25	58,178
50	NY	26	59,128

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Author

David Luther

David Luther was the Content Marketing Editor for the Zippia Advice blog. He developed partnerships with external reporting agencies in addition to generating original research and reporting for the Zippia Career Advice blog. David obtained his BA from UNC Chapel Hill.

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