Study Says Michigan Believes Its Teachers Are Woefully Underpaid

Many people agree that teachers are one of the most underpaid positions in the entire workforce. Oftentimes they work well over 40 hours, pay out of pocket for classroom supplies, and handle 15-25 children per day.

If you know a teacher, you know it's exhaustive work. Unfortunately, in most situations, teacher salaries remain low due to a lack of funding, whether from the state or federally.

According to World Population Review, Michigan teachers are paid a bit more than the national average at $67k per year. Most teachers do start in the $40k range though.

Nearly half of all teachers quit the profession within the first five years. There are various reasons for this, but the two most common and obvious reasons are burnout and pay.

Clearly, it's not a positive thing to see teachers leave the profession. Society needs teachers, maybe now more than ever. But they must be compensated fairly to make the job more fulfilling beyond the typical reasons people get into teaching in the first place.

According to a recent study, Michiganders tend to agree that teachers are not being paid nearly enough. If it was up to the people who responded to the study on behalf of Michigan, they'd see teachers be given a huge raise. Only three other states suggested larger raises.

The study comes from TwinklUSA, and it asked residents from each state if they believed their teachers were overworked and underpaid. Michigan did not place among the 15 states saying their teachers were overworked, but the Mitten State was a highlight among states asking to pay their teachers more.

In this study, Twinkl determined the average Michigan teacher makes $65k per year, the second-highest among states who believed their teachers were underpaid, trailing only Oregon. Oregon was also the only state to suggest a higher overall salary than Michigan. Michigan suggested a salary of $85.6k per year to Oregon's $87.7k.

The percentage raise suggested by Michiganders was the fourth-highest overall at 31.4%. Florida, North Carolina and Missouri were the states to suggest steeper increases - but it's worth noting all three states have an average teacher pay below $54k and suggested a salary below $73k.