State College places highly in a new ranking of the best places for teachers to live and work in the United States.
Consumer data research website GoodCall.com ranked State College No. 7 on its 2017 Best Cities for K-12 Teachers list. The borough is the highest ranked Pennsylvania municipality on the list, with Pittsburgh the next closest at 36. Scranton is the only other Pennsylvania city on the list, at 98.
Data analysts evaluated 689 cities on nine metrics that included job availability, comparative salary, cost of living, amenities (such as arts, entertainment and recreation), percentages of high school and college graduates, unemployment rate, crime rate, and restaurants and bars.
Among the top 10 locales on the list, State College had the lowest jobs per 1,000 residents at .07, but the highest comparative salary with teacher median pay at 174 percent of the overall local median.
‘Cities at the top of our list give teachers the best chance to find jobs that are professionally fulfilling and financially viable because they are thriving cities where people value education highly,” said Claire Etheridge, data analyst for Goodcall.com, in a release. “Teachers who are looking to start a new job in these cities also benefit from the low crime rates and varied restaurant and entertainment options.’
Top locations on the list are smaller municipalities, mostly suburbs and college towns with a high percentage of high school and college graduates. Five of the top 10 are suburbs of Chicago and two are suburbs of Detroit.
2017 Best Cities for K-12 Teachers
1. Bentonville, Ark.
2. Glenview, Ill.
3. Evanston, Ill.
4. Elmhurst, Ill.
5. Troy, Mich.
6. Southfield, Mich.
7. State College, Pa.
8. Burlington, Vt.
9. Plainfield, Ill.
10. Crystal Lake, Ill.
The new ranking joins several other data-driven lists placing local municipalities among the best places to live. Earlier this month LendEdu ranked State College and Bellefonte among the best places to live for recent college graduates. In April, Niche named Houserville No. 3 and Lemont No. 11 on its 2017 Best Places to Live in America.
