Average teacher pay by state 

• Last year, the national average pay for a K-12 public school teacher was $65,090. New York had the highest average income — $87,738 — followed by Massachusetts and California. On average, teachers made less than $50,000 in Mississippi, Florida, and South Dakota.
   
• The Comparable Wage Index is based on the earnings gap between teachers and comparable professionals in the same region. This index enables comparisons of both cost of living and differences in amenities by state. By this scale, Arizona had the nation’s lowest average public teacher salary. Pay was highest in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and New York.
   
• A typical Maryland teacher earns about eight fewer cents per dollar than comparable professionals outside the K-12 education field, while a teacher in Wisconsin earns nine cents more.

See the numbers, including more on the cost of living for teachers in every state. Then, read this recent analysis of teacher shortages and learn how much teachers are paid compared to people with similar levels of education.


US companies and foreign investments
More domestic companies are investing internationally to take advantage of tax breaks, access foreign markets, and lower labor and manufacturing costs. Foreign direct investments have grown into the trillions. What does government data reveal about where American companies are investing?

• US direct investments abroad grew from $580 billion in 1982 to more than $6.4 trillion in 2021. 

• More than 60% of these investments are in European businesses. Five countries (the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Luxemburg, Ireland, and Canada) account for about half of all US business investments abroad. 
   
• Investments toward holding companies have grown from $679 billion in 2001 to over $3 trillion in 2021. Last year, holding companies were 60% of direct investments to Ireland, 80% to the Netherlands, and 90% to Luxemburg. Holding, finance, and insurance companies comprised 70% of foreign direct investments in the United Kingdom. Direct investments to Canada were more diversified.

See more here, including visualizations of direct investments abroad by industry.


How women and men spent their time in 2021 
The COVID-19 pandemic changed how people live, including a shift to remote schooling for children while more adults started working from home. An analysis of government data shows that though families spent more time at home in 2021, little changed regarding how men and women spent their days.

• For employed people 18 and older, men spent 6.51 hours per day on work, while women spent 5.13 hours. When combining paid work with domestic activities, the total hours worked were similar: 8.79 for men and 8.73 for women. Men spent more time on paid labor.

• For parents of school-age children, women spent three times longer than men organizing educational activities, three times longer reading to their children, and nearly twice as much time transporting children to school or other care-related activities.

• Gender differences in household activities were apparent across all racial and ethnic groups. Hispanic and Latina women spent about an hour and a half more on household activities than Hispanic and Latino men, the largest difference for any race or ethnicity.

See more charts about how Americans spent their time last year.

Data behind the news
Recent mass shootings in Virginia and Colorado have reignited the national conversation about gun rights and gun violence. And today, the alleged perpetrator in May’s shooting at a Buffalo, New York, grocery store pleaded guilty to terrorism charges. Read this article from our archives about the data the FBI collects on active shooters and domestic terrorism.

USAFacts also has data on reported hate crimes perpetrated based on the victim’s gender identity or sexual orientation.

One last fact