Here is the breakdown in graphs of the data that I collected.
Average Teacher Salary Compared to Median House Prices.
This first chart shows how affordable houses are in that state. A state might have a great salary but if you can not even afford a basic house, things might be difficult. A good rule of thumb is a house should not cost more than three times your salary. So as you can see from the chart, Michigan has the most affordable houses and Hawaii has the most expensive.
Average Teacher Salary Compared to Median Household Income.
In this chart I compare an average teacher salary by state with the median household income. For example in New Jersey a teacher makes $32,000 less that the median household income for that state. Note: this chart compares one teacher's salary with that of a "household" income. So according to this chart, it is better to be in a state with bars on the right side of the chart, which means a teacher in that state makes more than the Median Household Income for that state.
Cents of Benefits for Every Dollar of Teacher Salary.
This chart is all about benefits. Of every dollar of salary how many cents are given to a teacher in benefits. So from the chart, the best state for benefits is Indiana.
Per-Pupil Spending State-by-State.
Here is an interesting chart about per-pupil spending in each state. A state might have a great salary and benefits but if the state has a low per-pupil spending, you might not like to teach in a school with very little extras. From this data, DC has the highest per pupil spending in the country.
Average Teacher Salary by State.
Here is just a chart to show what the average teacher salary is for each state.