Can You Afford to Become a Teacher?

For many English majors considering a career in education, the biggest question is no longer “Do I want to teach?” but “Can I afford to?” Teaching remains one of the most meaningful professions despite its challenges. The profession exists within a labor market shaped by inflation, teacher shortages, and shifting state investments. While recent budgets and salary increases suggest education is becoming a greater priority, financial stability still varies depending on where educators teach and which educational setting they enter. Looking at Georgia’s recent investments alongside national salary data reveals that teaching offers long-term stability, but not every educator experiences that stability equally.

Georgia has made significant investments in strengthening its education workforce. According to Arvin Johnson’s analysis of the state’s FY25 budget, Georgia allocated $13.2 billion to P–12 education and $3.4 billion to the University System of Georgia. Priorities included salary increases, expanded health insurance funding, retirement contributions, and workforce development initiatives. Policymakers also directed new resources toward teacher recruitment and retention, recognizing that compensation remains one of the profession’s greatest challenges. Johnson argues these investments improve educator quality and long-term workforce stability rather than simply increasing annual pay.

Nationally, however, the picture is more complicated. The National Education Association’s Educator Pay in America 2025 reports that the average U.S. teacher salary reached $72,030, yet inflation has erased much of that progress, leaving teachers with roughly 5% less purchasing power than a decade ago. Although starting salaries have increased by 4.4%, nearly 70% of school districts still begin new teachers below $50,000, making financial security difficult during the early years of a teaching career. The report also highlights that teacher shortages continue to affect schools across the country, suggesting salary remains one of the profession’s biggest recruitment challenges.

The financial outlook also depends on which educational path someone chooses. Evangelist and colleagues’ labor market analysis found that public K-8 teachers earned stronger wages and received better health insurance and retirement benefits than similarly educated early childhood educators working in private settings. Only 3.7% of college-educated private early educators met the study’s definition of a “good job,” compared with 50.9% of public K–8 teachers, illustrating that salary alone rarely tells the whole story. Benefits, retirement plans, and long-term job security often matter just as much as annual income when evaluating a career in education.

Teaching may never become the highest-paying profession available to English graduates, but recent investments suggest that both Georgia and the nation recognize the importance of supporting educators more effectively. For future educators, deciding whether teaching is “worth it” ultimately becomes a balance between financial security, professional purpose, and the lasting impact they hope to make in students’ lives.