Maine Ranks 3rd Worst State for Teachers—But Hey, We’re Not Dead Last!

Here’s a report Maine probably won’t be bragging about anytime soon. Apparently, it's still a tough place to be a teacher.

Wallethub.com, a personal finance website, recently published a report of the best and worst states for teachers. Maine ultimately can be found near the bottom of the list. In fact, it's almost dead last.

Maine Doesn't Make the Grade for Its Teachers

Well, Maine probably won’t be bragging about this one. According to WalletHub’s annual report, the state ranked as the 3rd worst in the nation for teachers. That’s definitely not making the grade. It's also a drop from 2024, when Maine came in as the 4th worst. So yeah—things aren’t exactly looking up.

Maine received a score of 36.65 on WalletHub’s 100-point scale. The scoring is based on two major categories: Opportunity & Competition and Academic & Work Environment. These two categories are further broken down into 24 subcategories to provide more detail and accuracy. (You can read about the full methodology here).

Surprisingly, Maine performed fairly well in the Academic & Work Environment category, ranking 18th, only a slight dip from its 15th place finish in 2024. This category includes factors like the quality of the school system and the pupil-to-teacher ratio.

What Makes Maine's Teacher Ranking So Low?

So, why is Maine still ranked so low overall, despite that decent score? That would be because of the other category: Opportunity & Competition—where Maine ranks dead last in the entire country. Not exactly ideal. This category includes key metrics like teacher salary, income growth, and other career opportunity indicators.

It’s not rocket science: compensation appears to be the major issue driving Maine’s poor ranking, and the reason it continues to be one of the least attractive states for teachers.

READ MORE: Cooper Flagg Becomes First Overall Pick From Maine In NBA Draft

According to WalletHub, the best state for teachers is Virginia, which scored 59.97. Rounding out the top five are Utah, Washington, New York, and Illinois. As for New England, only one state cracked the top 10: Massachusetts, landing at 9th.

And who came in last overall? That would be Hawaii. Honestly, though... teaching in paradise, even for less, still doesn’t sound too bad.

You can check out the full rankings here.