Teaching isn't an easy profession, but it is a job with a tremendous amount of responsibility, despite being on the lower end of the pay scale — at least in some countries. In the United States, the average yearly salary for K-12 teachers is in the mid-to-high $40,000 range , and the OECD's 2017 "Education at a Glance" report indicates that pay for secondary teachers in the U.S. (at public institutions) is relatively low when compared to teachers' salaries elsewhere in the world.