In towns and cities, both large and small, from coast to coast, starting salaries for teachers are usually between $12,000 and $14,000, with maximums after twenty years (with an M.A.) hovering between $24,000 and $27,000. Exceptions to these figures can usually be found (especially for high maximums) in large cities such as Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C., where local wage rates are high and where teaching conditions are often horrendous. Still, even in these areas a teacher rarely earns over $30,000.
