STUDY: Hawai‘i Teacher Salaries Not Enough to Buy a Home

A map of average teacher’s salary vs. the salary needed to afford a house in each state. Click to enlarge.

Hawai‘i has found itself ranked as the worst state for teachers.

Teachers in Hawai‘i earn the lowest average starting salary and lowest average salary.

Can a teacher even afford to buy a home in Hawai‘i?

In order to make that assessment in Hawai‘i and elsewhere in the county, JustAddTutor.com mapped the average teacher’s salary vs. the salary required to buy a home.

It’s not a perfect metric, but logic dictates that if we expect teaching to be a full-time profession, it should at least pay enough to afford a home, JustAddTutor.com said about it’s study.

The study found that in 11 states plus Washington, D.C., the average teacher does not make enough to afford an average home: Hawai‘i, District of Columbia, Colorado, California, Utah, Montana, Idaho, North Dakota, Arizona, Florida, and North Carolina.

Hawai‘i again tops the list. Teacher salaries do not not measure up. The yearly salary required to purchase an home in Hawai‘i is $110,520. The average teacher makes almost half that at $59,250 annually.

On the other side of the spectrum, Ohio’s teachers make twice the salary needed to afford a home, and they were ranked the 10th best state for teachers. In Pennsylvania, teachers make just shy of twice the salary needed to buy a home; recently, their governor pledged support for their powerful union.

According to the study, “it looks like most of Hawai‘i’s teachers will be renting for a very long time.”