For our 2026 State of Teaching survey, we wanted to get a sense about how teachers feel their work is viewed by others. And given the changing composition of the workforce, we also wanted to know if they thought they might work in a field other than teaching.
Teachers’ experiences in the profession is shaped by their local communities and by national discourse around teaching. Most feel that, on a 0-to-10 scale, the American public has a fairly negative view of the teachers, while they feel their local communities are lukewarm.
As for their own careers, nearly half of all U.S. teachers say they expect at some point to work in a field other than education.
See more state-by-state data on teachers from the report
About the survey that powers these results
For the state-by-state results, a total of 5,802 teachers responded to the nationally representative online survey designed by the EdWeek Research Center, which included a total of 30 questions about the profession.
Results can be tracked over time and reported by subgroup—such as locale or years of teaching experience.
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