Is Iowa A Good Place To Be A Teacher?

Teaching can be an extremely rewarding career, considering the critical role educators play in shaping young minds. But many teachers find themselves overworked and underpaid. Education jobs are also among the lowest-paying occupations (according to Payscale.com) requiring a bachelor’s degree, and teacher salaries consistently fail to keep up with inflation. Meanwhile, the Every Student Succeeds Act demands growth in student performance. So with that in mind, how does Iowa rank out of all 50 states, plus the District of Columbia?

Iowa ranks 18, out of 51 according to WalletHub.

The methodology used by WalletHUb to come up with each states ranking is described as:
In order to determine the teacher-friendliest states in the U.S., WalletHub compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia across two key dimensions, “Opportunity & Competition” and “Academic & Work Environment.” Because competitive salaries and job security are integral to a well-balanced personal and professional life, we assigned a heavier weight to the first category.

We evaluated the two dimensions using 23 relevant metrics, which are listed below with their corresponding weights. Each metric was graded on a 100-point scale, with a score of 100 representing the most favorable conditions for living and working as a teacher.

Finally, we determined each state and the District’s weighted average across all metrics to calculate its overall score and used the resulting scores to rank-order our sample.

Source: WalletHub