At ProCare Therapy, we know that teachers are the backbone of our educational system, and their happiness and well-being are crucial to student success. Our goal is to inspire positive change where improvement is needed – after all, you need happy teachers to produce happy learners.  

To understand how educators are best supported in their roles, ProCare Therapy commissioned the Teacher Haven Index. Utilizing a range of reputable public data sources, the index findings were based on five factors that teachers considered to best represent educator happiness, including pupil-to-teacher classroom ratios, job satisfaction, retention rates, teaching autonomy, and cost of living.

In addition, we surveyed school professionals across the nation in the ProCare Therapy network to identify the most concerning issues among educators, aiming to shed light on how schools can foster a more supportive environment for teachers.  

Explore the findings below – and learn more about how happy teachers produce happy learners.  

The Survey Results

A key objective of the Teacher Haven Index was to identify the most pressing challenges faced by educators today and what can be done to improve their working environment. To accomplish this, we surveyed over 1,200 school professionals, providing a comprehensive understanding of the actionable insights for enhancing their overall well-being.

Teaching has become one of the toughest professions in recent years, with nearly half (47.2%) of educators believing that teaching has negatively impacted their mental health. This is in part due to a range of factors, with the largest issues including the quality of their school system (23.3%), student-teacher ratios (20.2%), and rates of turnover (16.4%).

This is echoed in the most favored career improvements that educators want school systems to implement to improve overall happiness, such as a more manageable workload (15.5%), better work-life balance (12.6%), and mental health support (10.9%).  

The Best States for Teachers

Our Teacher Haven Index found that K-12 public schools in North Dakota (1) have the happiest teachers in the nation. Roughly 96.1% of teachers said they have autonomy in selecting the content, topics, and skills taught in their classroom – the second-highest percentage in the country, following Vermont. These findings underscore the importance of teacher autonomy in job satisfaction and retention, contributing to a positive school culture where educators feel valued and trusted, as North Dakota had the seventh-highest teacher satisfaction rate (84.7%).

Kentucky (2), the second-best state overall, also had the second-highest teacher satisfaction rate, at 87.3%. Missouri (3), the third-best state overall, ranked on the higher end for several categories. Most notably, the state had the 11th highest teacher satisfaction rate and the 12th best pupil-to-teacher ratio. Louisiana (50) ranked last as the worst state for educators – with the nation’s lowest teacher satisfaction rate (71.2%) and the least autonomy.

Additional Findings

The research reveals a noteworthy correlation: states with higher levels of teacher autonomy also tend to have happier teachers. Of the ten states with the highest teacher satisfaction rates, four were in the top ten states with the most teacher autonomy. This includes North Dakota (1), Illinois (13), New Hampshire (16), and Idaho (17).

In addition to boosting job satisfaction, teacher autonomy is also associated with higher retention rates, illustrating that educators who feel empowered to make decisions about their teaching are more likely to remain in their role. Of the ten states with the highest retention rates, four are in the top ten states where teachers have the most autonomy, including Montana (11), Illinois (13), Minnesota (20),and Hawaii (41).

Explore the Findings

The Teacher Haven Index found North Dakota, Kentucky, and Missouri to be the best states for educators. Explore how all the states compare below:  

Rank State     Score 
(100 total possible points)
1 North Dakota 87.65 
2 Kentucky 82.54 
3 Missouri 81.18 
4 West Virginia 80.52 
5 Wisconsin 80.11 
6 South Dakota 79.87 
7 Nebraska 79.57 
8 Arkansas 79.49 
9 New Mexico 79.38 
10 Vermont 79.19 
11 Montana 76.88 
12 Kansas 76.78 
13 Illinois 76.66 
14 Iowa 76.30 
15 Maine 76.26 
16 New Hampshire 75.63 
17 Idaho 75.33 
18 Oklahoma 75.32 
19 South Carolina 74.71 
20 Minnesota 74.54 
21 Mississippi 73.59 
22 Wyoming 73.02 
23 Ohio 71.45 
24 Indiana 70.88 
25 North Carolina 68.70 
26 Georgia 66.29 
27 New York 66.21 
28 Pennsylvania 65.86 
29 Oregon 64.70 
30 Utah 64.25 
31 Michigan 62.91 
32 Colorado 61.56 
33 Virginia 60.93 
34 Tennessee 60.92 
35 Texas 60.26 
36 Connecticut 60.05 
37 New Jersey 59.62 
38 Delaware 59.30 
39 Alabama 58.55 
40 Nevada 57.27 
41 Hawaii 56.20 
42 Massachusetts 55.32 
43 Arizona 54.88 
44 Rhode Island 54.47 
45 Maryland 53.00 
46 California 52.76 
47 Washington 50.99 
48 Alaska 46.30 
49 Florida 45.27 
50 Louisiana 43.29 

Happy Teachers, Happy Schools

Ensuring our nation’s teachers feel valued, supported, and happy in their role is crucial for the overall success of not only our educational system but also our future leaders. Happy and supported teachers results in happier, more motivated learners who are more likely to excel academically and develop a lifelong love for education. 

If you are passionate about making a significant impact in the education system and want to work in an environment where you will be truly valued, we invite you to explore ProCare’s exceptional teaching roles today, including school counselors, special education teachers, and more. Find your next rewarding opportunity today! 

Methodology

To most accurately calculate the final ranking, a range of values for each category was established and used to create a scale which each state was distributed on, receiving a value. Each state’s weighed value for all five categories was added to determine the final ranking. Each category had an equal weight of 20%. The five categories and data sources utilized in the Teacher Haven Index include: 

  • Pupil/Teacher Ratio: Average number of enrolled students for every full-time teacher in public elementary and secondary schools in fall 2021. Source: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Common Core of Data (CCD), “State Nonfiscal Survey of Public Elementary/Secondary Education.”    
  • School Teacher Retention: Percentage of public school teacher “stayers,” which are teachers who were teachers in the same school in the 2021–22 TFS school year as in the 2020–21 NTPS school year. Source: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, National Teacher and Principal Survey (NTPS), Teacher Follow-up Survey (TFS), “Current and Former Teacher Data Files,” 2021–22. 
  • Teacher Autonomy: Percentage of public K–12 school teachers who responded that they have any control over selecting content, topics, and skills to be taught in their classrooms. Source: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, National Teacher and Principal Survey (NTPS), “Public School Teacher Data File,” 2020–21.   
  • Cost of Living: The cost-of-living metric is determined using regional price parities (RPPs) data from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, which measure the differences in price levels across states for a given year and are expressed as a percentage of the overall national price level. Source: U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, “SARPP Regional price parities by state.”   
  • Teacher Satisfaction: Percentage of public school teachers who somewhat or strongly agreed with the statement: The teachers at this school like being here; I would describe us as a satisfied group. Source: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, National Teacher and Principal Survey (NTPS), “Public School Teacher Data File,” 2020–21.