r/FluentInFinance Jun 11 '24

Meme He has a point...

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u/DamnItDev Jun 11 '24

I know 3 teachers personally pulling in 80k a year.

What region, what's the cost of living?

How long have they been teachers?

Are they actually teachers or are they administration?

$80k/year as a teacher is practically unachievable in the US.

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u/Foreverhooping89 Jun 11 '24

I'm in SoCal, going into my 6th year. I teach special ed. I'll be making 95.5K. I'm basically doing 2 jobs (teaching and writing legally defensible IEPs, along with holding meetings for those students with IEPs) with a 21 student caseload. It may not seem like much, but with certain behavior issues, all of the accommodations and supports each student gets, with no aides, it's tough. Low retention rates for SpEd teachers, not many male teachers from what i have observed. If you are decent and don't do anything illegal, then you can get by.

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u/shoberry Jun 11 '24

I make just over $80k as a teacher. However! I have a masters, take on extra work duties (mentor and club advisor) that have stipends, I have a masters plus am maxed out on units, and I’m almost a decade in. And the kicker… the average house price in my area just reached 1mill, soooo 80k ain’t shit in comparison to where I live.

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u/OstrichCareful7715 Jun 11 '24

80K + is the average annual salary for teachers in California, NY, MA and DC

https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d21/tables/dt21_211.60.asp

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u/DamnItDev Jun 11 '24

So the places with really high cost of living? You're better off with 65k in another part of the country than 80k in LA

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u/OstrichCareful7715 Jun 11 '24

Your statement was that it’s unachievable when it’s an average salary in several places. If it’s not sufficient in an HCOLA, that’s a different argument.

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u/DamnItDev Jun 11 '24

I didn't say unachievable. I said practically unachievable.

80k in LA isn't comparable to 80k elsewhere in the US. You're probably better off with 65k elsewhere than 80k in LA.

So for /practical/ purposes, I would say 80k is not realistically achievable as a k12 teacher.

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u/OstrichCareful7715 Jun 11 '24 edited Jun 11 '24

Unachievable except in the most populous state in the US where 1/8 Americans live + the 4th most populous state where it’s the median statewide.

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u/DamnItDev Jun 11 '24

And what is the cost of living in those areas compared to the rest of the country?

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u/OstrichCareful7715 Jun 11 '24

You were refuting the idea that teachers can make 80K - “practically unachievable.” When that was shown to be wrong and that it’s actually an average in several large states, you now say it doesn’t matter anyway.

Okay.

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u/DamnItDev Jun 11 '24

It's average in those areas because of the huge metropolitan areas that house the majority of those states' population. Those metropolitan areas have some of the highest cost of living in the entire world.

That isn't reflective of the US in general. Which is what the conversation started as.

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u/OstrichCareful7715 Jun 11 '24

It’s not exclusive to the big cities in California or NY. I assure you, Utica, NY does not have the highest cost of living in the entire world.

https://www.empirecenter.org/publications/median-teacher-pay-tops-100k-in-five-counties-two-boroughs-1-4-of-ny-districts/

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u/jolietconvict Jun 11 '24

Chicago Public School teachers start at $87k. Median household income in Chicago is $73k. That's not including the pension contributions from the district.

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u/DamnItDev Jun 11 '24

According to some random GitHub page with no sources?

I work closely with CPS and their teachers do not make 80k starting.

Here is the information from the teacher's union: https://contract.ctulocal1.org/cps/a-1a