According to the US Labour Statistics Bureau, in 2016 lowest high school teachers' annual salaries were 38 000 USD and the highest - 92 000 USD. Oklahoma, South Dakota, North Carolina, Missisipi and West Virginia were the states where the teachers received the lowest wages, while Alaska, New York, Connecticut, New Jersey and California paid the highest wages. Job pressures and low salaries lead to high turnover of teachers in the states that pay smallest wages especially in public education sector. However when looking at the salaries, one needs to compare them with the cost of living in every state in order to compare salaries across different states more or less accurately.

According to statistics, salaries have in fact increased in the past few years. It does also depend on the level you're at as a teacher at the university; the average is $98,974 for professors, $69,911 for associate professors, $58,662 for assistant professors, $42,609 for instructors, and $48,289 for lecturers. Therefore, teaching at a US university, could can expect to make a minimum of approximately $50k and a maximum of almost $100k. Of course, this does also depend on how good the university you're teaching at is (I'm sure there are some professers teaching at Yale, for instance, exceeding these statistics). But the average salary for a teacher at a US university is around $70k, which delivers a reasonable living. If you're working in a field that has high demand, as opposed to widely studied subject such as English, for instance, you may be able to earn more.