The U.S. Constitution does not guarantee the right to an education. Though the federal government has set some academic standards, education policy is set largely at the state and local levels. State governments have authority over public school curriculums, teaching methods, instructional materials, and, in conjunction with local districts, teacher pay.

Without national compensation standards, average salaries for teachers across the country vary considerably. Depending on the state, the average teacher salary varies from as little as $45,300 to more than $85,000. The disparity in average teacher salary is less stark after adjusting for cost of living, yet it is still substantial, with a nearly $25,000 difference between the state with the highest average and the state with the lowest.

Using data on elementary, middle, and high school pay from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 24/7 Wall St. calculated the average teacher salary in each state. Nationwide, the average annual salary for teachers stands at $65,977.

In Kentucky, the average teacher salary is $54,013 per year, or $60,818 when accounting for the state’s lower than average cost of living. Of all 50 states, Kentucky has the 23rd lowest adjusted average teacher salary. The average salary across all occupations in Kentucky is $46,000, or $51,796 after adjusting for cost of living — 13th lowest among states.

Teacher compensation accounts for a large portion of annual education spending, and partially as a result, the states paying their teachers the least also tend to be those spending less overall on education on a per student basis, and vice versa, though there are some exceptions. In Kentucky, annual per pupil school spending amounts to $11,110 per year compared to the national average of $12,612.

While the relationship between education spending and student performance is complicated, some research suggests that greater spending leads to better outcomes. In Kentucky, the high school graduation rate stands at 87.2%, compared to the 85.3% graduation rate nationwide.

24/7 Wall St. used teacher salary data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ May 2020 Occupational Employment Statistics program. The calculation is based on the weighted average annual salary among elementary school teachers, middle school teachers, and secondary school teachers. We weighted the average salaries across the three teacher job types using data on total employment in each of the categories from the BLS May 2020 OES, and then adjusted the average annual salary for cost of living using 2019 regional price parity from the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Special education and career or technical education teachers were excluded from the analysis.

Supplemental data on average per-pupil expenditures for public elementary and secondary schools in fiscal 2018 came from the Census Bureau’s 2018 Annual Survey of School System Finances.

Data on the public high school four-year adjusted cohort graduation rate came from the National Center for Education Statistics and is for the 2017-18 school year. The ACGR measures the percentage of public school students who attain a regular high school diploma within four years of starting ninth grade. The cohort is adjusted by adding students who transfer in during those four years and by subtracting students who transfer out. See how each state ranks in teacher pay.