Florida Teachers Ranked Most Underpaid in Nationwide Survey

Florida teachers' average salary is a far cry from what residents believe educators should be hauling in for their paycheck.

By Naomi Feinstein

August 23, 2024

A new study found a roughly $20,000 gap between Florida teachers' salary and what residents thought teachers should be paid. Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images

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A new study has found that Florida has the most underpaid teachers across dozens of surveyed states.

The study by Twinkl, an online educational publishing house, surveyed 2,400 people in 43 states over three weeks in May, asking them how much they thought a teacher's annual salary should be. The responses were then compared to each state's annual salary from the National Center of Education Statistics (NCES) to determine which state's teachers are the most underpaid.

Florida came out at the top of the list, with Floridians opining that teachers should be paid $71,508, a nearly 40 percent gap from the average teacher salary of $51,230. North Carolina and Missouri rounded out the top three most underpaid as residents suggested their teachers deserve a 35 percent raise from their roughly $53,000 salary.

As far as where teachers are the most overworked, Florida was ranked 26th. Texas was the state with the most overworked teachers, with residents suggesting that teachers should work around 40 hours a week compared to the state average of around 55 work hours a week.

Although this study does not provide a complete picture of teachers' salaries and work hours in the U.S., Florida's ranking should not be entirely surprising. It is well-documented that teachers are leaving the classroom over poor pay, heavy workloads, and restrictive laws that stand to punish teachers for mentioning verboten concepts in the classroom, such as the Parental Rights in Education law, otherwise known as "Don't Say Gay."

The Florida Department of Education launched the "Military Veterans Certification Pathway" to help fill the thousands of vacant teacher positions across the state last year, easing the qualifications for military veterans seeking to teach. Six months after DeSantis signed the program into law, Broward County Schools only hired one veteran through the certification pathway.

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Naomi Feinstein is a staff writer of Miami New Times where she primarily focuses on news. Naomi started her career with New Times as an intern from June–August 2019, then worked as a fellow from August 2022 to February 2023 before joining the staff full-time. She graduated from University of Miami where she contributed to the student-run newspaper, The Miami Hurricane. She holds a master’s degree and graduated with honors from the Columbia School of Journalism. In 2021, Naomi was recognized as the College Journalist of the Year from the Society of Professional Journalists of Florida, and she placed second for Best General News Story in the 2021 Pinnacle Awards.

Contact: Naomi Feinstein

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Twitter: @naomifeinstein