South Dakota Searchlight – The typical South Dakota teacher’s pay fell by 7.6% over the past six years when adjusted for inflation, according to a new report from a nonprofit economic research and analysis organization.
The Dakota Institute says average teacher pay increased 13.8% from 2017 to 2023, while inflation was 21.4%. The average teacher therefore ended up with a 7.6% decline in “real wages,” or purchasing power. That was more severe than the decline in purchasing power suffered by the typical household in South Dakota over the same time, which was 5%.
Yet, as the report notes, “Many claims can be made about teachers’ salaries in South Dakota, but few of them should be taken at face value or without context.”
Some of that context is included in the report. Only three states — Alabama, Mississippi and Arkansas —are more affordable places to live than South Dakota, according to U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis data cited in the report. And, as the report says, “these same states typically trade the title of lowest teachers’ salaries.”
Actual rankings from the National Education Association currently list South Dakota as 49th in average teacher pay. Alabama is 31st, Mississippi is 48th and Arkansas is 45th.
Those rankings say South Dakota’s average teacher pay during the 2022-23 school year was $53,153. The national average was $69,544.
