Washington ranks as the nation’s best state for teachers. Here’s why

The best state for teachers in the country is on the West Coast, a study shows.

Washington ranked No. 1 on Scholaroo’s list of “Best & Worst States for Teachers.”

The study compared career accessibility, salary and compensation, work benefits, work environment and student performance across all 50 states.

“We evaluated those dimensions using 42 relevant metrics, which are listed below with their corresponding weight,” according to the scholarship website. “Each metric was graded on a 100 point scale, with a score of 100 being the max.”

Then the state’s average was taken from all of the metrics to calculate a final score.

Arizona ranked No. 50.

Connecticut had the highest average paying salaries for teachers while North Carolina had the lowest.

Top 10 best states for teachers in the nation:

1. Washington
2. New York
3. Rhode Island
4. Connecticut
5. Massachusetts
6. North Dakota
7. Wisconsin
8. Virginia
9. Utah
10. Vermont

The bottom 10 states are: 41. Oklahoma, 42. Tennessee, 43. Texas, 44. Alabama, 45. Florida, 46. Mississippi, 47. Indiana, 48. West Virginia, 49. Louisiana, 50. Arizona.

This story was originally published April 11, 2022 at 1:07 PM with the headline "Washington ranks as the nation’s best state for teachers. Here’s why."

Helena Wegner

McClatchy DC

Helena Wegner is a McClatchy National Real-Time Reporter covering the state of Washington and the western region. She’s a journalism graduate from Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication. She’s based in Phoenix.