The Southern Regional Education Board has released the latest version of its Teacher Compensation Dashboard, allowing users to analyze teacher spending power across 16 states and 48 cities and counties throughout the South.

The updated SREB Teacher Compensation Dashboard includes the latest available data on average teacher salaries, health insurance costs, retirement benefits and take-home pay in each of the 16 SREB states.

With this expanded feature, users can pull data for any of the 48 school districts and compare that data to data for other included districts, their state, the 16-state SREB region or the nation. SREB analyzed a rural, suburban and urban school district from each state.

The update comes as state leaders prepare for the 2025 legislative sessions amid ongoing teacher shortages. By conducting research that looks at all aspects of compensation, SREB leaders provide policymakers with a more complete picture of how teachers are compensated.

“While we know that compensation is not the sole driver of teacher recruitment and retention, we also know that the level of compensation appears as an indicator of value for a profession,” SREB President Stephen L. Pruitt said. “This unique tool provides policymakers, educators and the general public with important data about the realities our educators face regarding their compensation.”

As before, dashboard users can:

• See a profile of their state’s compensation facts
• Compare one state to another, the South or the nation
• Browse all data and trends (now up to 10 school years of salary data and five years of benefit data)

“Teacher compensation continues to be a major topic of conversation within the education industry – especially as it consistently ranks as the number one reason that young professionals interested in teaching turn away from the profession,” said Megan Boren, who leads SREB’s work with states on teacher workforce issues. “While compensation is not the only factor to ending teacher shortages, it is a key aspect to creating a comprehensive plan to do so.”

Key Takeaways

The average salary for all teachers in the 16 SREB states was $59,145, compared with $69,544 nationally. Average teacher salaries in the South are 15% less than the national average.

Health-insurance costs for teachers are manageable for individuals in most states, but teachers often pay more than other professionals for monthly health-insurance premiums to cover their families. Florida and Virginia have the lowest average premiums in the region. Tennessee and Texas have lowered premium rates for teachers in the last few years, however Texas rates still remain the highest in the region.

Teachers’ retirement benefits are substantial for most teachers but don’t pay off as well for teachers who don’t spend their entire careers in the teaching field. Delaware, Georgia and Alabama provide the highest potential pension benefit to current eligible retirees in the region.

Take-home pay averages are calculated for teachers in their 1st, 15th and 35thyears of teaching. Maryland, Delaware and Alabama had the highest average net pay for teachers in 2023.

Contact: Janita Poe, SREB News Manager, at Janita.Poe@sreb.org or 404-879-5516, ext. 216

The Southern Regional Education Board works with states, districts and schools to improve education at every level, from early childhood through doctoral education and the workforce. An interstate compact and a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization based in Atlanta, SREB was created in 1948 by Southern governors and legislatures to advance education and improve the social and economic life of the region.