Maine Ranks 3rd Worst State for Teachers-But Hey, It Could Be Worse…Barely

If this were a report card, it would definitely be one you’d hide from your parents, because it is not pretty. Folks, Maine is failing.

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.

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Is Maine Failing 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. I mean, this is tragically bad.

Maine received a score of 39.12 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).

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Surprisingly, Maine performed fairly well in the Academic & Work Environment category, ranking 17th, a slight improvement from the 18th ranking in 2025. This category includes factors like the quality of the school system and the pupil-to-teacher ratio.

What Makes Maine a Bad Place for Teachers?

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 50th out of the 51 areas studies (Washington DC was included). 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: These Are Maine’s Most Popular Lighthouses You Need to Visit

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: Connecticut, landing at 10th.

And who came in last overall? That would be our neighbors, New Hampshire. Well, I guess it's nice that Maine wasn't the worst New England state on the list.

You can check out the full rankings here.