The average public school teacher nationwide earned just over $34 per hour in 2005 — 36 percent more than the average non-sales white-collar worker, according to a new report by the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research.
The report, by Manhattan Institute Senior Fellow Jay Greene and Senior Research Associate Marcus Winters, also found no relation between teacher pay and high-school graduation rates.
Based on data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ annual National Compensation Survey, the report — titled “How Much Are Public School Teachers Paid?” — examined the hourly earnings in 66 metropolitan areas.
Included in the examination were the metropolitan areas of New York City, Buffalo and Rochester, where the hourly pay of public school teachers in all three cities surpassed the 2005 national average of $34.06, the report said.
Public school teachers in the New York metro area — which includes Pennsylvania and New Jersey — earned $45.79 per hour in 2005. That rate was third overall, according to the report.
Meanwhile, the hourly pay of public school teachers in Buffalo (ranked 14th) and Rochester (ranked 20th) was $39.18 and $37.88, respectively.
The nation’s highest hourly pay rate for public school teachers in 2005 was earned in Detroit, where educators were paid an average $47.28, according to the BLS data. The lowest-average hourly pay for public school teachers — at $21.67 — was in Greensboro, N.C., the report found.
The authors noted that pay rankings were strongly influenced by the cost of living in various metro areas. When that measure was taken into account, the highest paid public school teachers were in Elkhart, Indiana, where they made 87 percent more than the average non-sales white-collar worker in the same metro area.
Buffalo’s ranking climbs to fourth overall when cost of living is considered, with the hourly pay received by public school teachers there 69 percent higher than the average white-collar worker.
In Rochester, the average public school teacher made 47 percent more per hour than the average white-collar worker (22nd overall). Meanwhile, in the New York City metro area, the average public school teacher’s hourly pay was 36 percent higher than the average white-collar worker (35th overall) when cost of living was considered.
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