A new Gallup research study says 71% of U.S public school teachers have a second job, and 1 in 5 of those surveyed say they’re struggling financially on their salary.
The study was released Monday with the Walton Family Foundation and the Bipartisan Policy Center. Felisa Alberts, a Mesa teacher, said these results are not surprising to her as she has had a second job for seven years. She’s been an educator in the East Valley for 12 years and holds two master’s degrees.
“I have a second job because unfortunately my teaching salary does not cover all of my bills and I use my second job to supplement my income,” she told ABC15.
Alberts told ABC15 she’s been working for Amazon on the weekends, delivering packages.
“I do not foresee myself getting rid of the second job anytime soon, unfortunately,” she said.
According to the Gallup study, nearly one in three teachers holds a second job unrelated to teaching, while 62% say their job is related to education. For Alberts, trying to make it by on her own, it’s the former, and she said she worked elsewhere prior to Amazon.
“No matter how much my income has grown over the last five years, it hasn’t caught up with the cost of inflation and the cost of living,” she said.
According to a new report from the Arizona Auditor General’s Office, the average teacher salary was around $65,000 for Fiscal Year 2025. The Census Bureau, in 2024, said the median household income was nearly $80,000.
Alberts said some of her colleagues also have second jobs.
“I think it’s really unfortunate that teachers have to have second jobs because it takes away from students,” she said. “The time that I’m spending at my second job on Sunday is time that I could be using for planning and developing lessons for students.”
As a teacher’s union member, Alberts said she hopes the legislature can make some sort of change, even just adjusting their income to keep pace with the cost-of-living increase. Some efforts are being made at the state legislature; however, the solutions that are presented by each caucus are seeing pushback.
“I’m so burnt out. I’m tired. I’m really thankful for my job. I’m really thankful for my career,” she continued. “I look at second careers often every summer, like I can’t do it another year… I don’t know. I don’t know how much longer I can do it, but I want to beat the odds, and I want to beat the statistics.”
Those statistics show that 14% of Arizona educators left the profession in the 2024-25 school year, translating to more than 8,600 educators. Burnout was at the top of the list of reasons why teachers quit; a higher salary is another.
While Alberts said she has considered leaving the profession because of the salary, there’s a bigger force that keeps her inside the classroom.
“Every day I’ve thought about leaving my profession because of the pay, but then every day I go back and something about the kids makes me stay,” she said.
