(The Center Square) – Michigan ranks among the better states for teachers, coming in 18th nationally in a new report.
The “Best and Worst States for Teachers” study from WalletHub examined a number of factors to determine the teacher-friendliest states, including salary, attendance, teacher-student ratios, teacher turnover, and even commute time.
Chip Lupo, a WalletHub analyst, discussed the 2026 results with The Center Square in an exclusive interview.
“Everyone should care about these results because the quality of a state’s teaching workforce affects the education students receive and the ability of schools to retain experienced educators,” he said. “The report shows that teachers are already making 5% less than they did 10 years ago after adjusting for inflation, while teacher turnover varies widely across states.”
The report highlighted the wide spectrum of differences in the support teachers receive state-to state.
“Looking at factors such as salaries, tenure protections, school-system quality, class sizes and spending per student helps show where teachers have stronger support and where challenges remain,” Lupo said. “These differences matter not only to educators, but also to students, families and communities that depend on strong public schools.”
The factors were lumped into two broad categories: Opportunity and competition, academic and work environment.
On the first, which was weighted more heavily, Michigan ranked 28th nationally. It struggled less in the second, coming in at 19th nationally.
“Michigan’s biggest strength for teachers is compensation,” Lupo said. “The average teacher salary is $77,753 after adjusting for the cost of living, which ranks 4th nationally, while the income growth potential ranks 5th.”
It’s not all good news for Michigan salaries though.
“Salaries have grown just 17.34% over the past 10 years, ranking 49th, and teachers must wait five years for tenure (44th),” Lupo explained. “Michigan also ranks 33rd for school-system quality, 40th for the pupil-teacher ratio and 35th for public-school spending per student.”
Nationally, Washington, New York, and Virginia topped the rankings, while Montana, Hawaii, and New Hampshire rounded out the bottom.
Lupo highlighted how geography plays little role in how states performed.
“It’s interesting how school systems at opposite ends of the country are giving each other a real run for their money,” he said. “New York, for example, has the highest cost-of-living-adjusted teacher salary at $87,670 and the lowest projected teacher turnover at 4.3%, while Washington ranks first overall largely on the strength of its improving pay and opportunities.”
It was a priority for WalletHub that the study look at a number of different measures to get a truly accurate picture of the teacher environment in states, Lupo explained.
“Strong compensation doesn’t necessarily mean every aspect of the teaching environment is equally strong,” Lupo said. “Overall, Michigan offers relatively strong earning potential, but its slower salary growth and mixed work-environment stand out as areas of concern.”
This post was originally published on The Center Square.